Playing Defense
by MuggleBeene
Summary: Athena Potter, daughter of Harry and Ginny, wants nothing more than her parents to be happy. With Ginny marrying Oliver Wood, her father needs a date. Luckily for her Teddy Lupin is glad to help. Now to find the impossible; a date for her father, Professor Potter. An EWE story, not part of the Professor Muggle series.
1. Pre-Season

**Playing Defense**

 **Chapter 1: Pre-Season**

 _Late August, 2016_

Ron Weasley sighed, looked around the small room in the upstairs section of the Leakey Cauldron, pulled out a chair for his wife and sat down quickly next to the open chair. As soon as his wife had settled he turned to her, brows narrowed in concern. "Are you sure about this? She seemed pretty worried."

"Ron." Hermione pushed her hair back and gave her husband a quick shrug. "We got the note at the same time. I don't know any more than you do."

"Well, you're the Auror."

She shook her head. "That doesn't make me a Seer. I'm not Trewlawney."

The thought of him marrying the former Divination professor was so absurd that he snorted. "Thank Merlin for _that_." His attention was drawn to the sound of footsteps coming down the hall, footsteps that were accompanied by a voice that he knew well speaking to whoever from the Leakey that had shown her where to go. "Ok, Ginny's here, she'll know what this is all about."

Sitting in the chair facing the doorway Hermione watched with only a smidgeon of her Auror habits active. Even with all of her accomplishments over the years Hermione still felt just slightly competitive with Ginny, although in her heart of hearts she knew it was quite silly. Yes, Ginny still had a good figure, playing Quidditch professionally would do that to a person, and Ginny was in the magazines and other things, and she had dated Viktor Krum for a small time, but if they were being quite honest Hermione knew there were quite a few things in her life that Ginny would reciprocate with small jealousies. Hermione did the quick calculations and realised that she and Ron had been married for over a decade, had two wonderful children and even though things hadn't been easy it had been worth it. Ginny and Harry...well…

"Hello, hello, hello." Ginny sat down in a chair and looked from her brother to her sister-in-law's faces. "So, which one of you's going to tell me why we're here? It's Harry, it can't be that bad."

"Us?" Ron gave her a very odd look and then glanced at his wife for a second before turning back. "We thought you'd tell us. You set this up, right?"

All three of them looked at each other oddly before Ginny sighed and leaned forward. "I'm pretty sure I know who set this up. Hermione?"

Catching Ginny's eyes Hermione raised an eyebrow and turned to her husband. "Think about the timing, Ron. What's the big news these days?"

Ron sat back in his chair and feigned being very thick. "Oh, Merlin, I dunno. It's almost time for Hogwarts to start, it rained on Tuesday, Peruvian Darkness Powder's gone up a quarter-Sickle for bulk purchase. That's it." He popped his eyes open wide and snapped his fingers. "Oh, and Ginny got engaged to some bloke named Wood. Think he might'a played Quidditch at school and does summing with it now. Reporter? Issat it?" Laughing to himself Ron saw the looks of the witches around him, causing his expression to turn back to normal and he shrugged. "So my guess is someone's worried about her Dad, then?"

After taking a quick look at her watch Hermione began drumming her fingers softly on the table. "We'll see in about a minute." The sound of the door opening made her smile. "Or now. Hello, Athena."

Ginny watched as her daughter swept into the room, sat down and pulled a stack of folders out of her bookbag and set them quickly on the table. She looked so like Harry when she was like this, very intent, but there was no way the poor girl could ever escape her Weasley genetics, not with that hair. And just like her father that poor hair just would not behave, not as bad as Harry's, thank Merlin, but still. She reached over and pushed some hair away from Athena's face, causing the girl to push her hand away and scoot over more towards her uncle.

"Merlin, Mum, who cares about my hair. This is important." Ignoring her mother she focused on her aunt and uncle, originially starting with her uncle, moving to her aunt and then back to her uncle. "As you know Mum an' Ollie are getting married."

Ron turned to Hermione and only half-whispered. "Ollie, eh? Guess they get on fairly well, then."

"God." Athena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I like him ok. He's a good guy and all...but I'm not talking about him. Well, I am. Kinda. He and Mum are getting married but that leaves Dad all by himself, and it's not _fair_. Not after everything he went through. And he told me _everything_. So you _know_ it's not fair."

Hermione's head snapped up sharply and she stared at Ginny. "Everything?"

Ginny nodded. "She's a seventh year now, Hermione. They study it in History, starting in fifth year. Harry and I agreed she needed to know the truth."

"Blimey." Ron sat back and, for lack of anything to do, scratched his head for a bit, mussing his hair. "I'm glad we've got a few years before Rosie an' Hugo get there." He turned to his sister. "How much firewhiskey did it take?"

"None." Ginny held up her head proudly until Athena tapped her on the arm. After looking slightly chagrined she turned to her brother. "Ok, a good bottle of wine. But just one."

Even through she'd listened to the interplay between the other occupants at the table Hermione had focused in on Athena's cause. It made sense, in a way. Even though the girl was well-loved, and carried the double-moniker of Weasley-Potter, Harry and Ginny had never married. They'd tried to carry on after the war, but realised early on that they'd changed too much. The fact that during one of those times they'd 'carried on' was the reason that they had a daughter was not lost on them; they handled it much more maturely than anyone ever thought would happen, including her. And now, with one parent getting married it naturally caused their daughter to think about the other parent. Manufacturing the little meeting with the secrecy involved was just one more little proof that made her smile; she always knew Ginny and Harry were more Slytherin than they let on, but Athena didn't really hide it all. The little bit about fairness didn't escape her, though; the girl was the daughter of two Gryffindors, after all.

Clearing her throat Hermione pulled the table's attention. "So we're here to find your father a wife?"

"What? Are you mental?" Athena shook her head. "You know how he is, he'd tell us we're being, well, stupid. It's gonna take us this long to get him a date to Mum an' Ollie's wedding. How would that look, them up there and at the reception Dad just standing over there, half-full pint of cider, people going 'Oh, look at poor Harry Potter. Such a shame.' You know he hates that shite."

"Language." Ginny shook her head and then turned to her brother. "But she does have a point. You know the press will be all over him. Remember Neville and Hannah's wedding?"

"Vividly." Hermione gave Ron a faint withering glance, which caused her husband to shudder slightly. Ron had tried to speak to the press when they came to find Harry, and in his usual manner, albeit a bit more enhanced due to the alcohol at the reception, he'd stumbled about and mentioned that Harry'd 'had lots of dates, just a shame none of them had worked out and all,' thus fueling a round of speculation to exactly who Harry had dated. Needless to say Harry appreciated what Ron had tried to do for him but wasn't too fond of the result. Returning from her memories Hermione glanced at the folders and raised an eyebrow. "Your research? Likely candidates, then?"

"Oh. Yeah." Athena pushed her reddish-brown hair behind her ears and adjusted her glasses. "I researched all of Dad's previous girlfriends to get an idea of...not you, Mum, don't worry."

Ginny smiled sarcastically. "Such a relief."

Ignoring her mum Athena pushed on, focusing on her true target. "Here's the potential dates folder. Ron, what do you think?"

As initial shock turned to something like pride Ron pulled the proffered folder over, opening it and smiling. "Well, the first one's fit even though I don't know who she is." He turned to his wife. "Love?"

Hermione leaned over, her chin on her husband's arm. "Ronald Weasley! You old goat, how old is she? Twenty?"

"It's a date, not a wedding. Trust me, he wouldn't mind."

After sighing Ginny reluctantly pulled the folder away from her brother, somewhat shocked to see the young woman in the photo wearing an almost impossibly skimpy bikini. It wasn't a casual snap, either, instead it was a professional modeling photo. "Thena, who is this?"

"Really? That's Paloma Nunez, the Bolivian model." She waited as the three adults gave her incomprehensible looks. "Honestly? You don't know? She's only the top model for wizarding...you are all so old. She's famous, really famous. Think what would happen, they'd let Dad alone, sorta, and focus on Paloma. That means Mum and Ollie can get married and not worry. But that's just my first choice."

As Athena pulled more photos out of her folder Ron nudged Hermione, getting an understanding nod from his wife. Using his long legs he tapped his sister with his foot under the table, and although she gave him an odd look eventually she shrugged. Taking this as his cue Ron interrupted his neice, this time with photo of some woman who had shaved the hair off of one side of her head for some reason. "Listen, Athena, before I agree to help you out answer me one thing; does your dad know about this little plan of yours?"

Athena looked at her uncle, shock written all over her face. "Are you kidding? Of course he doesn't. He'd do what he usually does when I talk to him about this kind of stuff, he'll laugh, give me a hug and then say he has to work on a Defense lesson plan. That's where you three come in, you've known him the longest so you'll be able to help me come up with how to convince him. Right?"

It was later, after Athena was convinced that her plan was going to work and had left to go over to her best friend's house, that the Weasleys sat in the back office of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes over a cup of tea. Ron leaned back in his chair, feet on a crate of Skiving Snackboxes and shook his head. "I can't believe we're going along with this plan."

"Oh, we are, just to make sure some of those tarts in that folder don't end up with Harry." Hermione looked over to Ginny, whose expression matched what she was feeling. "It is all a bit mental, but sweet and naive as well. He's going to hate this, isn't he?"

Ginny nodded. "Normally I'd agree, but when he finds out it's Athena's idea, and it's only for the wedding, he'll do what he usually does; he'll grumble a bit, for show, but do what he can to make her happy."

-ooo-

The afternoon sun was making a feeble attempt to break through the clouds, clouds that threatened rain, and it didn't make Ted Lupin's mood any better. He sat sideways in a rather well-worn, overstuffed chair, legs draped over an arm, and mindlessly thumbed through a Quidditch magazine. He didn't know how Harry did it, still being interested in a sport where his ex was prominantly displayed but being able to handle the story about his ex marrying his former Hogwarts Quidditch captain right there on the cover. There was no way he could possibly be that calm about it if Victoire was thrown in his face that way; there was more than one reason he didn't read the fashion magazines, after all. The room was mostly quiet, only the wireless burbling softly in the corner, but that ended when the Floo came to life, depositing his godfather in a rush of soot.

"Ted, please don't sit like that. Your Gran would have my hide."

Ted rolled his eyes and eased his legs off, coming back to the normal sitting position. "It's your place, Harry. She won't know."

After siphoning away the Floo powder with his wand Harry shook his head. "She would, somehow she would. So what brings you over today?" He paused, taking in Ted's slight expression of worry. "Something wrong with the new job?"

"Merlin, how do you do that? Yeah, I'm about _this_ close..." He held up a hand and put his index finger and thumb only centimeters apart "...to getting sacked. I don't think it's for me. How'd you know it was time to quit the Aurors?"

"Oh." Harry sat down in one of the chairs opposite of Ted. "Well, that was different."

After waiting a bit, but without any additional words forthcoming, Ted sighed. "C'mon, Harry. Do the 'dad bit' and give me some advice here."

Harry sighed and took off his glasses. He'd talked with Ted about what to do after Hogwarts, and it was frustrating for everyone. Ted just didn't seem that interested in many things, some things he was interested in he just didn't have the aptitude or didn't have the proper qualifications. Along with Andromeda Harry had been been relieved when his godson had taken a position at the Ministry in the Games and Sport department. Unfortunately for all involved Ted was good at many things but the tedium of dealing with filing Quidditch paperwork and being the lowest rung on the department ladder wasn't one of them. Compound that with the tailspin he'd gone into when Victoire Weasley chucked him and he wasn't a model employee by any stretch of the imagination.

Thankfully his lack of response was interrupted by Kreacher; the old house elf was inquiring if he needed tea. It also didn't escape his notice that Kreacher had pointedly not asked if Ted needed anything. Some things never changed, and unfortunately when the topic was his godson Harry wished it would. "Well, it was different when I was with the Aurors. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it, it was just a job. I thought it would be different, sort of like being in the movies, but mostly it was paperwork. And then Athena was born and after that, well, getting offed in a dark alley by some bloke over counterfeit dark objects just wasn't a good idea. Not that it ever was, really, but with Athena..."

"Right. So you're no help." Ted smirked at Harry and glared at Kreacher. "Sorry, Kreacher, but I don't want any tea, thanks."

Kreacher simply glared at Ted and left, causing Harry to shake his head. "You two should just apologise to each other."

"Nope." Ted shook his head. "Not my fault."

"Fine." Harry took a sip of tea. "Is that the new Quidditch Weekly?"

"Um, yeah." Closing the book quickly he looked over to his godfather. "Harry, there's, uh, a big spread on Ginny an' Oliver."

Harry laughed. "I'm sure Oliver will love that. Ginny as well."

"How do you do it?" Ted swiveled forward in his seat and peered intently at his godfather, as if by concentrating enough he'd finally notice a crack in the exterior. "I mean, you two have Athena. You're actually happy for them?"

"Hard to believe, I know, but I am." Harry sighed. He'd been down this road of a conversation topic many, many times. "You know how things were after the war, I've told you, and..." His attention rapidly shifted as the Floo roared to life in-between his chair and Ted's, depositing his daughter in a much more elegant and poised Floo manner than he'd ever achieved. "Hi sweetie, what brings you by?"

"Hi Dad. Ted." Athena siphoned away Floo powder with her wand and sat down on the sofa between the two of them. "Dad, I need to talk to you."

"This looks serious." Ted got up from his chair. "I'll see you…"

"Nope, sit." Athena motioned him down with her hand. "I'm going to need your help as well."

"This sounds important." Harry leaned forward, his face full of concern. "Something wrong?"

"Yes. Something's wrong." Athena took a deep breath. "You need a date for Mum and Ollie's wedding."

Tension quickly left Harry's body as he sighed. "Athena. Honey...don't worry about me." Harry sat back and crossed his legs, taking up his tea once again. "This is your mum's wedding, just let it be about her. I'll be fine."

Sighing, and mouthing 'hopeless' under her breath, Athena turned to Ted. "Ted, you're going to help me, aren't you?"

"Me?" Ted shrugged. "This is all too weird and Slytherin for this Gryffindor. Plus, like I'm any good at this stuff."

"Yes, Vic dumped you, so what? She's annoying." Athena adjusted her glasses. "But you are funny, smart and you dress nicely. He can't just show up at the wedding for the first time with his date, so they'll have to go out a few times before that. And Dad, you can't look like you normally do. Ted, you can help him with that."

"Really?" Ted looked down at his jeans, low boots and his shirt. Athena thought he had good taste in clothes? Glancing over to Harry he made a comparision; sure, what Harry had on was fine to teach Defense at Hogwarts, but it would be dreadful on a date. "You know, I guess I can."

Watching the interplay between Ted and Athena made Harry sit back and scowl slightly behind his glasses. When those two ganged up on him it never ended well.

-ooo-

As it was the week before classes started at Hogwarts Harry had a simple breakfast with Kreacher, skimmed through the Daily Prophet and packed his large leather bag. It had been a present from Molly and Arthur when he accepted the Defense position at Hogwarts. Arthur said it was a Muggle bag that was used by soldiers to pack 'ammanition' for war, but Harry had simply accepted it gratefully, knowing that it was a rather upscale version of of a postman's bag. Regardless, he liked it, as it was worn in spots, could hold as much as he needed without an undectable extension charm. Every year when he began packing it for the first trip to Hogwarts it gave him a sense of comfort. To say that his school years at Hogwarts were unnatural was an understatement of the highest magnitude, so the fact that he was simply Athena's dad, the Hogwarts Defense Professor, made things much more satisfying.

He closed the top flap, buckled the two straps into the worn brass clasps and stood up, lifting it over his head so the strap went cross-ways over his chest and rested the bag at his hip. As he made his way to the Floo he paused, as he'd caught his reflection in the hallway mirror where the portrait of Sirius' mum used to hang.

"I'm not that bad." He adjusted the collar of his light blue shirt, tucking the ends into the vee of the heathery-grey jumper. His hair was short, how he'd kept it ever since the Aurors, and he'd finally given into Hermione's pleas and changed glasses. The oval hornrims glowed slightly due to the sunlight. Yes, he was going a bit grey, what Molly said would be a 'dashing salt and pepper' look, but to be honest it just made him feel a bit old. But old, he reminded himself as he adjusted the strap of the bag, old was good because old meant alive. He started to step away and heard a small sound, looked down and realised that the lace of his trainers had come untied. Bending down to retie the trainers made him wince slightly, as he'd been wearing the same trainers for...years. Not that there was anything wrong with them, they were just well-worn. That was it. Broken-in. Comfortable. He didn't need Ted's advice on clothing. It was while he was still thinking about his daughter's new project that he entered the fireplace, tossed a pinch of Floo powder down and said 'Hogwarts Staff Floo.'

Thankfully it was a rather relaxed Staff Room that he entered, only Headmistress McGonagall, Neville and Daphne sitting about with Flitwick. His arrival caused all the heads to turn, and after sitting his bag down on one of the low tables he took the offered seat next to Neville.

"Good to see you, Harry. Ready for another year?" Neville smiled broadly. "Think we've got a chance for the Quidditch cup."

"Please." Daphne Greengrass rolled her eyes. "You say that every year, Neville. Hello, Harry."

Minerva gave a very small smile. "As head I'm supposed to be impartial, but...Gryffindor should be rather good."

Flitwick laughed softly. "I don't believe any of us thinks you impartial, Minerva, especially those of us that have known you for years."

"Yes, well, try not to make it obvious outside of the staff room." Minerva turned back to Harry. "And how are you doing? Holding up?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm ok." Harry looked at his former Transfiguration professor somewhat oddly. "Is something wrong? New stuff to prepare for OWL and NEWTS?"

Daphne leaned over. "She's talking about Ginny's wedding, I believe."

"Oh. That." Harry relaxed. "I'm fine. Happy for her and Oliver. Athena likes him, so that helps." He saw everyone's attention focus over to Daphne and then flit back to him. "Am I missing something?"

"Well..." Neville nodded to Daphne. "It's her story to tell, but..."

Daphne turned to Harry. "I got a...questionnaire from your daughter."

"Oh shit." Harry sat back. "So you know what she's trying to do, then? Bollocks." He watched as both Neville and Flitwick chuckled, Minerva raised an eyebrow and Daphne rolled her eyes. "Come on, she's just trying to be helpful."

"Thank Merlin, because when was the last time you were on a date, Harry?" Neville gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry, I mean, after Strahl and that debacle I don't blame you, but..."

Flitwick couldn't contain himself this time, as the laugh came out rather short and loud. "So sorry, Harry, but that was possibly..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, it didn't go well." Harry waved him off. "Don't you lot have something to do? I need to go to my classroom."

That seemed to be enough of a sign that everyone but Daphne took their leave, promising to keep Athena's plan to themselves. After they left Daphne reached down into a folder and brought out a piece of parchment. "Here. Read it for yourself." As Harry read the questionnaire Daphne sighed. The girl was a Slytherin but this was way too bold of a play; far too Gryffindor for the house of cunning. And as for the reason she'd received the missive it had to be the one time that she and Harry had represented Hogwarts at that international magical educator's conference. They'd gone to the reception, and it was a formal event, so apparently that was enough of a date-like occurrence that it made the cut for Athena. They'd had a nice time, obviously, but to be honest they'd spent most of the night keeping overzealous fans of Harry's away and talking about his daughter.. Harry had a maturity beyond his years, and definitely beyond what he'd shown at Hogwarts, when he and Ginny managed to be completely civil about things. Her ex? Marcello? The thought of their breakup still infuriated her at times, but luckily that had been years ago.

"I can't believe she sent this to you. I'm sorry." Harry sat the parchment on the table. "I'll speak to her."

"Why?" Daphne tilted her head at him, causing her blonde hair to fall about her shoulders and the long pendant she wore to slide over to one side of her bottle-green jumper. "She's not wrong, Potter. Besides Weasley your dating life has been atrocious. Pitiful, even."

"Not you, too." Harry sat back in the chair. "I'm not that bad."

"Really? Then why don't we play a little game." As Daphne's blue eyes narrowed she gave him a mischievious grin. "Let's go through them all. Don't worry, it won't take that long."

"Evil Slytherin. Why should I play your game?"

"Because you'll understand a bit better what Athena is thinking. Humour me. You still owe me for Strahl."

After slightly huffing and crossing his arms Harry nodded. "Fine. Only because of Strahl."

"Oh good." Daphne clapped her hands. "Let's start there. The new Hogwarts potion professor, straight from Germany, you did her staff orientation and she just blew through you like a hippogriff. You did ask her out for a drink, though, so initially it's on you."

"She asked where there was to get a drink around her so I told her and she just said it would be lovely to go together or something. I don't know, I was being nice and I didn't know what else to say. I panicked."

Daphne laughed. "I didn't think anyone teaching potions could be that different from Snape, but leave it to her. She's so bloody...ethusiastic. Perky. Gods I hate perky."

"Don't remind me." Harry sat back, remembering how it had all unfolded. The welcoming drink amongst colleagues, as he had envisioned it, obviously meant something quite different to one Rachel Strahl. Instead of the drink she suggested going out for a bite to eat right before they took the Floo, and when they arrived at the restaurant she picked he almost swallowed his tongue. It was one of those impossibly twee Italian restaurants, complete with waiters singing romantic songs, candlelight, tables only for two. During dinner he found himself trying, but mostly failing, to get in any comments as she was far too busy making plans. She knew the most charming little bed and breakfast in Germany, up in the mountains, that would be perfect for them. It was close to her parents' house, and they'd love to meet him. It was all he could do to make it through the dinner without being completely rude, and once they'd made it back to the castle he dropped her off at her quarters and made a beeline to Daphne's room.

"You paced around and ranted for at least fifteen minutes." Daphne tapped a manicured finger on the table. "Highly entertaining. But as I didn't want you derelict in your duties to my Slytherin students I had to help you out. Do you know she still gives me dirty looks?"

"What did you say to her?" Harry leaned forward. "You never told me."

"Ah ah ah." Daphne mimed zipping her lips shut. "A girl needs her secrets. Don't worry your scarred little head, she won't bother you anymore."

"Fine. I owe you."

"Precisely, so let's go through the rest, eh? This will be fun. Here I thought today was just going to be more Arithmancy preparation, but this is much more entertaining."

Harry stuck out his tongue at her. If she wasn't such a good friend he would have told her to bugger off, but Athena's plan was still hovering around in the back of his mind. Maybe his daughter did have a point after all. "Right. Well, the first one was Agnes, Agnes Trumbow. She works in the Ministry with Hermione. That was a setup and it was ok it was just...I dunno, I'd just left the Aurors, she's a bit older than me and I think she was really looking to settle down. I definitely wasn't. Plus Athena was only two at the time and that's when Ginny went back to Harpies, so I was really just more concerned about being a father. Didn't make it easier that I was a working Auror at the time."

"Understandable, and fifteen years ago." Daphne nodded. "Next?"

"Um...let me think. Oh. Right. Her name was Kimberley Franklin, you wouldn't know her, she's a Muggle. Athena's teacher, but I waited until Athena wasn't in her class to ask her out. I thought it would be nice, not having to explain things, but it was just too hard. I mean, trying to explain..." He waved his hands in frustration. "It was just too hard. She was very nice, though. Huh." He paused. "She was older than me, too."

Daphne mimed taking notes. "Likes older women."

"Stop."

"Fine, and how old was Athena then?"

"Um, I'd just started at Hogwarts then, so, Thena was six."

"Eleven years ago. Such the playboy." She smirked at him. "That can't be it."

"No, one more. George set me up with her, a reporter from America. Heidi...Selk, no Selden. Yeah, that's it. She came over to do a piece of George's shop and I was over there to talk to Ron. It was a mistake. Way too many questions. Guess I should have known that, a reporter and all." He held up his hand to stop the question he knew was coming. "Athena had just started Hogwarts, so it was six years ago." Suddenly he smacked himself on the forehead. "Forgot one. Total disaster. Barbara Martin, plays for the Canadian National Quidditch team."

"What is it with you and Quidditch, Harry? Regardless, well done!" Daphne mock applauded. "So young and fit then, and we're breaking the string of older women. How about the reporter?"

After a sigh he looked at her over his glasses. "A few years older."

"At least you tried to break the trend. Now, if we count our 'date' at the conference like your daughter does, you'll find that I'm older than you by a few months. So let's do the arithmancy here, in seventeen years you've been on approximately five dates, six if you count me, and mostly with older women. Can you understand why your daughter is concerned about your ability to find a date for Weasley's wedding?" Daphne's eyes softened. "Harry, she's not wrong. You do need help, even if it is just for one night to make her happy. That's all you really want, isn't it?"

"Pretty direct for a Slytherin." He smirked at her. "Sure you're the right head of house?"

Daphne rolled her eyes. "I knew hanging about you and Longbottom for so long was bound to affect my judgment. But I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes, dammit."

"I do so love to hear that, especially from you. Ok, so let's hear what one of my little snakes has cooked up so far for her daddy. When is the blessed event?"

"January." Harry saw the odd look on her face. "It's an international break for Quidditch then."

"A January wedding, how...something. Well, since this whole endeavor is going to be entirely too Quidditch themed to be in good taste I'm just going to play along. We are now in pre-season. Time to find out who's going to make the first round of cuts to make the team. I'm sure Athena will let you know when the players take the pitch."

-ooo-

Ginny stood in the doorway to her sitting room, just out of sight, and took in the scene before her. There, both of them sprawled out on the floor, were her daughter and Teddy. Ted. She mentally chastised herself, as he didn't want to be called Teddy anymore. It didn't seem right that the two of them were so grown up now, Ted had left Hogwarts and Athena would soon; it just seemed like the other day when the two of them were crawling all over in nappies, fighting over stuffed toys.

"Hey." Oliver's voice was soft as he came up behind Ginny and put his arms around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder. "How long have they been doing that?"

"Since supper." Ginny's voice was also quiet as she didn't want Athena and Ted to think she was spying on them. "They're worried about Harry."

Oliver's chuckle was soft. "I would no worry about Harry. He can take care of himself, eh?"

"Normally I would agree, but I think she has a point."

"Wha?" He shifted about and turned her towards him. "Yer not..."

"Shhh." Ginny put a finger to his lips. "Of course not. You know better than that. We're friends, more than that since we have Athena, but that was almost twenty years ago. But he doesn't deserve to be lonely, even if it is just for our wedding."

"Yeah, I know." Oliver turned to look into the sitting room and made a 'hmmmm' noise. "Look at that an' tell me what you see."

Ginny turned her attention back to the sitting room where Ted and Athena had relocated to the sofa. Ted was sitting properly, his feet on an ottoman, but Athena had her back against the far armrest and her feet were in Ted's lap. "What am I looking at? I don't see anything."

"Ah, it's no a thing, love. My mistake." Oliver smiled to himself. It might not be anything, yet.

 _ **A/N: Insert standard statement regarding other WIP stories, lack of attention and new chapters in the future. Yeah, another multi-chapter story, but this one won't go too long. (Actually the third chapter is done and working on the fourth, which should be the last one. See? Not too bad.) I was just looking through notes and reference stuff the other day and thought about what would happen if Harry and Ginny didn't get married but had a kid. And Athena has popped up in other stories of mine before, in different permutations, but I thought I'd have a little fun.**_

 _ **Also as a change usually I have an idea who the pairings will be when I start writing and sometimes change that, but this time I have some likely candidates and no idea whatsoever what will happen when the story ends. That's kind of fun. So will this be a light, fluffy thing? Yeah, probably. If you want dark head on over to Aurors and Assassins or Goodbye, Hermione. But in this one, why not Hermione the Auror? She's the one who thinks fastest on her feet throughout the whole HP canon. So it's an 'Epilogue, What Epilogue?' story with maybe a few twists. We'll see.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.**_


	2. First Match

**Playing Defense**

 **Chapter 2: First Match**

 _Late September, 2016_

After making his way out of the shower, throwing on a slightly threadbare dressing robe and running his hands through his hair he couldn't avoid it any longer. With a deep breath he put on his glasses and headed out into his room. Unsurprisingly Ted was waiting for him. "They let anyone into Hogwarts these days, don't they?"

Ted shrugged. "Hey, I just left last year and it's your fault you put that exception for me in your room security." Popping up out of the chair Ted rubbed his hands together vigourously. "So, ready for the first date?"

"I would if I had a clue. Come on, Ted, this isn't fair." Harry went over to his wardrobe and opened it but it shut quickly. He turned to see Teddy with his wand outstretched. "Ted."

Ted ignored the creeping note of irritation in Harry's voice. He'd heard that often enough, thankfully never in Defense, but he knew that if it went on for too long Harry would be truly irritated and that made him cranky, no way to start out a date. "I've got your stuff laid out over there, on the bed. Well, not your pants. There are some lines that can't be crossed. Things that can't be unseen, even with obliviation. Burned into the retinas, scarred upon the brain for evermore..."

"Shut up." Harry went over to the bed and took a look at the clothes Ted had laid out for him. Grey moleskin trousers which looked a bit small to him, a white henley long sleeved t-shirt, a dark blue and burgandy plaid shirt with bits of white in there as well, thick woolen socks and a pair of black lace up boots. He picked up the boots and felt that the leather was as stiff as a board. "Ted, these are going to hurt like hell. I'll just wear my trainers."

"Merlin, you're a pain. There's a trick to them, you charm them on and then you charm them so they fit perfectly. I found the spells in one of Mum's old books. Quit whingeing. Oh, and because it's Hogwarts Quidditch, which means it's colder than anyplace else on earth today with the added bonus of rain, I've got a new coat for you, too."

"Scarf? Hat?" Harry saw a flicker of worry go across Ted's face. "Never mind, Molly's knitted me enough over the years, I'll find something to work."

"Perfect. Great. Way to mess it all up." Ted threw up his hands, his hair turning a slide shade of pink momentarily before returning to his usual brown. "Just get dressed."

Before Harry could respond the door to his room flew open, revealing his daughter, her hair windswept and her glasses slightly fogged over. "Merlin's pants, you're not even dressed! Teddy, you promised!"

Harry watched as Ted didn't blink as Athena called him 'Teddy' and went over to talk to her. Gathering up the clothing he went into the loo and got dressed, saving the boots for last. When he came back in Athena rushed over to him.

"Dad, your hair...you have one of Granny's hats, right?"

"Yes, it'll be fine." He held out the boots at arm's length. "Oh Merlin?"

Athena's eyes went a little wide and she gave Ted an appraising look. She watched as he completed the first charm, making the leather pliable and smooth, and then when her father's feet were in the boots he cast another spell and told him to walk around a bit. As her father complimented Ted on the magic, letting him know that the boots were exceedingly comfortable, Athena just shook her head. Getting her father out of those manky old trainers was one thing, but getting him into Doc Martens? That was almost impossible. Also nearing impossible was the amount of time they had left to get her father dressed, downstairs and into the Great Hall to meet his date.

Unable to take it anymore she hurried over to them and grabbed Ted's arm. "Five minutes! Let's go, get the jacket."

As Harry put on the green jacket, feeling the oilskin and wondering if it had an impervious charm applied to it he had a sinking feeling. "Athena, where did you get the Galleons to pay for all of this stuff?"

Athena rolled her eyes and adjusted her glasses. "Stop moaning about money and get a hat! I didn't use any of my gold, don't worry. It's fine."

Harry stood stock still and stared at his daughter. "Athena Jean."

After rubbing her forehead for a moment Athena shook her head. "Dad. Daddy, I just told Kreacher that you needed some new things. I had to do it because someone…" she glared at Ted "...is still being stupid and won't apologize to Kreacher."

"Who cares about that barmy old elf!" Ted threw up his hands, went over to Harry's wardrobe and began digging through, not worrying what he was pulling out. Finally he came up with a scarf and stocking hat, both obviously knitted by Molly Weasley, and sighed. "Colour's not right but we're running out of time so I'll fix it. Thena?"

"Black. Goes with everything."

"Black and green on the Slytherin side?" Ted stared at her oddly. "I mean it's bad enough that we're going to be over there and..." he glanced at his watch "...aren't you supposed to be in the locker room Keeper girl?"

"Fucking hell!" Athena ran over, gave her dad a hug and a kiss, hesitated for a moment and then gave Ted a quick kiss on the cheek and ran out of the room, her footsteps echoing through the Hogwarts hallways.

"Grey ok?" Ted looked over to Harry, who seemed oddly calm. "You really don't care if it's not black, do you? I mean, the jacket's green, forgot about that, really, but I could change it. They make 'em in blue and black, so if you want black..."

"Whatever's fine, Ted."

"Grey it is, then. Wait, that's like silver. Shit. Ok, black."

-ooo-

As Harry made his way with Ted down to the Great Hall it seemed that almost every single one of his students knew that he was on a date. Or would be shortly. The girls giggled at him, especially the first years, and three sixth year boys gave him hearty nods and thumbs up. Whatever happened, at least two Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw approved of his date, whoever she was.

As they were almost to the Great Hall he looked over to Ted. "You know it's not too late to write you out of my will."

Ted laughed and shook his head. "You'll be fine, you'll be fine. Although she...well, little too close to..." As they came around the corner to the Great Hall Ted stopped short. "Uh, she's over by Ron. They'll take it from there."

"What's wrong, I don't..." Harry stopped as Victoire Weasley stood next to Ron and another blonde witch. Since the blonde woman next to Ron and Victoire had her back to them he wasn't sure who they had set him up with; hopefully it wouldn't be anyone horrible, someone who just wanted to rehash the past, and he was still thinking about how to deal with that by the time he was close enough to see who the woman was clearly. As he figured it out he turned, but Ted was nowhere to be seen. It had been a few years since he'd seen her, one of the last big Weasley gatherings where Molly considered pretty much everyone family. With a small chuckle and a shake of his head the small smattering of nerves subsided. It would be a date, but it wouldn't really be a 'date.'

Ron saw him first, of course, waving at him with a smirk upon his face. After taking a deep breath he headed over, as now all three of the people in the little group were looking at him. Victoire had a somewhat apprehensive look upon her face, which made sense as she knew how close he was to Ted. The other woman gave him a small smile as he walked over.

"Hello, Gabrielle. Ron." He turned to Victoire. "Vicky." Seeing the corners of the girl's mouth tense about the nickname he felt he had sufficiently made his point for Ted and turned to Ron. "Sitting on the Slytherin side with us?"

"Right." Ron shook his head. "I'll cheer for her, but I just can't pick Slytherin over Ravenclaw. How many times have we been over this, mate?" After a moment he rolled his eyes. "But she is a damned good Keeper, after all I taught her...she'll keep it close, at least."

As Harry shook his head Victoire took the opportunity to say to Gabrielle, in a hurried voice, that she was going to find her parents on the Ravenclaw side to watch Louis and hurried away, leaving the three to stand there for a moment. Gabrielle looked at Victoire's retreating figure, turned to Harry and shrugged as to say 'what can you do?' Ron, though, was still smirking as if he was a third year who saw a bra for the first time.

"Well, I gotta be going, told Hugo I'd sit with him and Rosie on the Gryffindor side. Drinks after?"

"Maybe." Harry saw Gabrielle tighten her lips to stifle a laugh. "We'll see."

As they walked towards the pitch Ron kept up a steady stream of Quidditch talk, and when they were almost at the pitch a small third year girl stopped by to ask Harry a question about her Defense assignment. After assuring her that one foot of parchment was not that hard for the topic, he finally had a chance to look over to see that while Ron had gone ahead Gabrielle was still waiting. She was very fair, her silvery-blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail with a small knit hat on, an unmistakable Molly concoction of vibrant blue and orange, a grey puffy jacket and jeans, with some sort of boots that looked like they'd be not only cold but ruined within minutes of the weather. More than anything, though, even as pretty as she was, seeing her there waiting he felt relieved.

"Well, Harry, shall we?"

"Sorry." He adjusted his scarf and went over to her, and as they began walking towards the Quidditch stands he shook his head. "Sorry they roped you into this. Thanks, by the way."

She let out a small laugh. "It was quite touching. I was quite surprised to receive the invitation from both Teddy and Athena."

"Ted." Harry nodded. "Sorry, he just doesn't like to be called Teddy anymore. Not very grown up and all."

"I understand, I am quite thankful that Maman and Papa have finally decided to stop calling me 'Gabby.' It makes me feel as if I am back at Beauxbatons."

They made their way up into the Slytherin stands, which caused the students to give them quite a bit of space. The Slytherin students knew that Professor Potter treated everyone the same, but he didn't put up with any shite. They were used to him sitting there, as he had for all of Athena's matches, and they were curious who the woman was with him, but Athena had given everyone _very strict instructions_ to leave him and his 'date' alone. The Slytherins listened. They'd all seen her bat-bogey hex before.

The two sat in the stands with a rather obvious space around them, and it didn't take long for Harry to realise that, once again, this was his daughter's doing. As the teams had taken to the air for warmups he watched his daughter, still not believing that the little girl who had toddled around Grimmauld Place what seemed like just the other day was now out there on her broom, red hair in two braids, starting the first match of her final year at Hogwarts.

"Harry?"

He turned to see Gabrielle arch an eyebrow at him. "Sorry. I'm...it's been a while. You know this isn't really a date, right?"

She laughed and put her arm through his. "Of course. I thought it was very sweet of them. They love you very much, you know."

"Yeah, but they don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine. It's not like I'm going to lock myself in my room and drink firewhiskey all night because Ginny's marrying Oliver. I'm happy for them, really, I am."

"I know, I know." Gabrielle looked out to the pitch and focused on Athena. "But you should be ready, because when at the end of the match when they start asking you questions...Harry, you're my last date."

"Your what?" He turned to her. "What do you mean?"

Her smile was radiant. "I'm engaged. It happened last weekend. We talked about it and agreed that I would come anyway."

"So he doesn't mind?"

"That I am catching up with an old friend? Non. And that's what we are, are we not? Even if we do not see each other very often, I hope that you still consider me a friend."

"I do, Gabrielle. And thank you. So tell me about him?"

"Well...he's Canadian, owns a small bookstore. Maman and Papa met him once. He was in Calais researching his family, and that's how he met me. I assisted him in the records department."

Off in the recesses of his mind Harry hurriedly tried to remember exactly what Gabrielle did for a living, but thankfully she took pity on him and just casually mentioned how busy she was at the French Magical Ministry's records division. Also, thankfully for him, the match started.

The two sides were evenly matched, as scoring was at a premium. Athena let in one sloppy goal early but that must have focused her as she hadn't let anything in after that. Unfortunately the Ravenclaw Keeper was also playing well, so the score was Slytherin 20, Ravenclaw 10 for quite some time.

Gabrielle's laugh drew Harry's attention, and when he focused on her he could see the look upon her face. It reminded him of the looks Hermione gave Ron when he was being thick. "Sorry, what?"

"Hopeless. It is no wonder they wrote me. Harry, when was the last time you were on a date?"

"Merlin, not you, too." He took off his hat and didn't care that the rain, even though it had slowed, still was hard enough to dampen his hair. "One of my colleagues said the same thing."

"Well, you do have some work to do. If this was a real date I would be rather unhappy with you. Yes, we spoke a little before the match started but you have been rather silent. A woman would think you were not interested in her."

"But...but, I know you. We have family and friends in common, and even if I haven't seen you in a while it's not like...I mean, hmmm...ok, sure I forgot where you work, and you obviously know where I work, and all the other stuff, so that's like, what? Pretty much the schedule for the first date? Besides, you're engaged to some Canadian..."

"His name is Ian."

"Right, so you're engaged to Ian." He sighed. "And..." A whoop went up as Slytherin scored again, returning Harry's focus to the pitch. Turning back he sighed once more. "And this is a horrible place for a date anyway. All of my students are here, this is where I work and to be honest I really don't talk during Athena's matches because I'm busy watching her." He turned his focus back to the pitch but kept talking. "I went along with them because they're really concerned. I mean, Merlin, I even wore all this stuff that Ted picked out. Why does it matter if I don't have a date to Ginny's wedding? I'll be fine by myself."

Harry turned his attention fully onto the pitch, holding his breath slightly when the Ravenclaw Chasers did a move that they'd obviously copied from the professional league, even if it was much slower and about half as intricate. The results of that move usually resulted in a goal, but as he muttered 'remember what Ron said, they always have a tell, they always have a tell' Athena swooped from the far hoop, leaving the middle one wide open and dove towards the outside hoop, batting the shot away easily.

"Yes!" Harry clapped his hands together and turned to Gabrielle. "Did you see that?"

"I did, very well done." She looked over to him, so proud of his daughter. "I think...no. After the match."

"What?" He turned back to her. "What is it, something..."

"No, after. Oh! They've spotted it!"

The two Seekers were shoulder to shoulder, both straining forwards to grasp the zig-zagging Snitch, but right when the Slytherin Seeker went to grab it the Snitch moved away and landed precisely into the palm of the Ravenclaw Seeker. It was over. Ravenclaw 160, Slytherin 40.

"Bollocks." Harry sat back on his seat, took off his glasses and after a deep breath turned to Gabrielle. "She had a great match and that could have been anyone's Snitch. Just the way it goes, I'm afraid. She's not going to be very happy."

"And not just about the game." Gabrielle saw his questioning look but shook it off, glancing towards the students that were passing by them, leaving the stands. Eventually their section had thinned out and she looked to him. "Since we are friends I hope you will let me give you a bit of advice." She took his hand in hers. "And please let me finish. When you fought in the war, you made sure others were safe, yes? And during that horrible tournament you came back for me; why? Because you had to make sure I was safe. Then, when the war was over, you and Ginny tried to make sure each other was ok, and when you found out she was pregnant you had a baby to look after, and you've done that ever since. And Ginny, even if you two weren't together you made sure she could see Athena at any time, even with her Quidditch schedule. Today, if this was a date, it wouldn't have been a very good one I'm afraid. Yes, we do know each other, but you were focused on your daughter." She put up a hand to stop the words that were forming. "And that is as it should be. She is your daughter. And Harry, she loves you very much. So much she even convinced Teddy to contact Victoire about me." She watched as the realisation of what Teddy had done crept over him. "Yes, he did. And you have cared for Teddy as if he was your own. You have always been caring for others, Harry. Isn't about time you took care of yourself?" She couldn't help herself, she reached forward and tried to smooth some of his hair. "You could start with this mess. But I am serious, you need to think about yourself. I know you want to make Athena happy, and it will not make her happy if you are always alone."

Harry sat for a moment, taking it in; he was a bit in shock that she'd laid it all out like that, and even it if was pretty much the same thing that Hermione had been telling him for years it was different coming from Gabrielle. "Ok, you have a point. Or two or twenty, I didn't count. But it's just a date for the wedding, after that I'll be fine. Wizards live longer, it's not like I have a deadline or anything. Dumbledore was over one hundred, you know."

"Yes, and he died alone. Harsh, yes, but true. Athena worries about you, she wants you to be happy. That's all your friends have ever wanted for you, Harry. After everything, you deserve it." She stood up, leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, lingering for a moment. "Think on it." Once again she tried to smooth his hair. "I will owl you the name of a salon here in Britain. You do need help."

-ooo-

As a fire blazed, warmth seeping through Harry's room, he sat down in one of the cushy armchairs in front of the fireplace and handed Ron a tumbler. "It's not Old Ogden's, but it'll do."

"Thanks." Ron held up his glass and after Harry had poured the firewhiskey he sniffed it appreciatively. "Smells all right to me."

"Daphne brought it back from some Arithmancy conference in Mexico a couple of years ago. Obviously I'm a big drinker." He made himself more comfortable in the opposite armchair and poured himself a small amount, setting the bottle on the small table between them.

"So should I be worried?" Ron sniffed the tumbler again, holding it up to the light and peered at it as if it was something foul. "She is a Slytherin."

"And so's your neice. Git." He took a small sip and let the warmth spread across his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, just taking the mickey." Ron took a sip and adjusted his shoulders, crossing his long legs. "It's not bad."

"Not Odgen's, though, but decent."

The two men sat there for a bit, staring into the fire. Finally, though, Ron turned to him. "So how was the date?"

"It wasn't really a date. Besides, she's engaged."

"Really?" Ron hummphed and shook his head. "Kinda defeats the purpose of a date. I dunno, she is French." He kept a straight face for a moment and then smirked. "Sorry, couldn't resist. So she's engaged, Thena's not gonna like that. Losing after a brilliant game in the hoops and her dad's first date is a big whiff." He waited for Harry to respond, planning his next needling comment, but Harry's response never came. "Alright there, mate?"

Harry took a sip of firewhiskey and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess. We had a talk, well, she talked, and told me some things. Nothing I didn't really know, I guess, but hearing it from her it just...it's the same old stuff Hermione's been telling me for years, that I need to think of myself every now and then. They aren't wrong."

"Merlin, don't tell her that." Ron shook his head. "She'll never let you hear the end of it. Hell, I've heard it over and over. She's even asked me to talk to you about it."

"Really?" Harry turned with a surprised look. "You?"

"Yeah!" Ron chuckled. "Like I'm gonna take you out to the pub so we can have a..." he cleared his throat "...very serious discussion about your love life. Right." After another sip of firewhiskey his expression brightened. "Shit, we're doing that right now! Brilliant. She'll be really pleased."

Harry looked at him very seriously. "The last time she was _really pleased_ with you, well, that's how Hugo got here, if I remember correctly. Just don't name it after me if it's a boy, too many kids with my name as it is."

"What? No. NO. No more, we're happy with the two, thanks. Besides, can't have any more." He paused, looking uncomfortable, and then shrugged. "I got fixed. Hermione's very happy that Luna and Percy are the ones doing the 'big Weasley family bit' now."

Harry laughed. "Shit, I'm going to have all of them for class someday, too. Maybe I'll retire by then."

"Retire?" After an odd look Ron continued. "Why would you retire? We aren't even forty yet. Old Minnie's still going, you got ages. You could be like her, teach forever."

At that comment Harry immediately thought of his headmistress, who had been alone for so many years. Is that what his future was? Always alone, except for his students and, thank God, his daughter? He took another sip of firewhiskey, draining the glass, and reached over for the bottle.

"Thought you said you didn't drink much these days."

"Piss off." He took off his glasses and sat them on the table.

The fire continued to roar as the two men sat there, each with their glass of firewhiskey and their thoughts. Finally, though, Ron couldn't take it. "Ok, dammit, sometimes I hate it when she's right. I always took your side, saying after you and Ginny split that you'd eventually...when's the last time you took a holiday? Not with Thena, not with us, when's the last time you were Harry and not Dad or Professor Potter? You gotta find some balance, mate. I mean, it's hard, right? Me an' Hermione had a hard time doing that, especially when the shop was still getting on it's feet and she was in Auror training, not to mention when the kids came along, but you gotta have some time for you. Fucking hell, you did that for us. You came over and watched Rosie, and then when Hugo came along you did the same thing, so Hermione and I could go out and have dinner and do...not parent stuff. Shit, we went to fucking Tesco one time and that was brilliant and terrifying all at the same time. You know I'm better at Muggle stuff but...sorry. Off track. So your first date was a bust? Be thankful it was Gabby."

"Don't call her that. She hates it."

Ron waved him off. "I know, that's why I do it. But just be thankful it was her. It was a practise date. Think of it like Quidditch, you have to practise before you play in a match. It could have been, well, the one woman I saw in the bikini was well fit, but the others..."

Harry turned slowly over to his best friend and just stared at him for a moment. "What do you mean, the woman in the bikini? What others? Ron? Are you in on this?"

"Fuck." Ron sat back in the chair and drained his firewhiskey. "Ok, now don't get mad, but it's not just Thena and Ted on this. Harry, she contacted me, Hermione and Ginny. Hell, the girl did research. So what if you don't actually date any of these women they want to set you up with, just do me a favour and don't come to Ginny's wedding by yourself. Are there any single professors here? Wait, what about that Potions professor..."

"Shit no." Harry shook his head. "Daphne saved me on that one. Complete nutter."

"Ok, fine, don't take the nutter Potions professor. Hell, take Greengrass. I can't believe I just said that, but it'd be better than nothing. I'm not saying marry whoever, just have a date you can be at the wedding with and doesn't make you want to pull your skin off. Just one night, Athena's happy, done and dusted. Just promise me after that you'll think about yourself, eh? Merlin, I sound just like Hermione and if you say a word I'll...do something. Got a whole shop full of stuff."

-ooo-

The rain from the previous day had ended, but unfortunately it was still cold and overcast. The light came in feebly from the windows, and even though the fire had long since roared in the fireplace a small amount of warmth emanated, giving a portion of the room a bit of heat. Even though he had been awake for quite some time Harry had not left his bed, instead lying there under the warmth of the duvet. He knew that he should be up soon, that shortly Athena would be there for their traditional breakfast the day after one of her matches, but he just couldn't get out of bed. Instead he'd laid there, thinking of the previous day's conversations. It was obvious that if not only Gabrielle but Ron, of all people, if they were giving him essentially the same advice then it must mean something.

Eventually necessity overcame laziness and he made his way into the loo, took care of biological necessity and brushed his teeth, but instead of getting dressed he pulled the well-worn flannel dressing gown off of the hook on the back of the door and slid into his comfortable slippers. As he headed towards the little table in his room he thought back to one of Ted's comments about how all his stuff was old and tried to remember when he'd obtained the dressing gown and slippers. As he sat down at the table unfortunately he realised that it had been over a decade ago, at minimum.

With a sigh he noticed that his glasses were still on the nightstand and it just seemed too far now that he had sat down. "Flip?"

The little house elf popped in as usual. "How can Flip help this morning, Professor?"

"Athena will be joining me for the after-match breakfast, she lost yesterday so could you do extra bacon and, um, and one of those chocolate croissant things she likes, please? Oh, and I'm sorry, but my glasses are by the bed? Do you mind?"

Flip levitated Harry's glasses over to him and then popped away. Almost as soon as he had gone he was back, this time with the Daily Prophet, but before Harry could thank him he was gone again.

He'd just about made it through the front page of the Prophet when he heard the knock on the door and, as usual, the door opening before telling her to come in. He readied himself for a slightly depressed daughter, after all she'd played a brilliant match and her team had lost, but instead she bounded into the room.

"Morning, Dad!" She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and sat down at the table. "So? How was it?"

He peered at her over his glasses. "You're awfully chipper this morning. I thought after the match you played..."

"Oh. That. Win some, lose some." She shrugged and then slightly shivered. "It's freezing in here. I'll do the fire."

As his daughter got the fire going again in his fireplace with her wand he couldn't quite figure out how she was in this good of a mood. Usually after a loss she was quite tetchy and it took most of the breakfast to get her in a better mood, but then he realised exactly why she was acting that way. "Not so much fire, sweetie, don't want to burn the place down."

"Ok." She moved her wand a bit and the flames lessened. Once that was complete she sat back down. "Dad, I..."

Flip's arrival with a pop interrupted. "Breakfast!" With waves of his small hands plates, utensils, bowls full of food and tea whisked onto the table, all of it fresh and full of wonderful smells.

"Thanks, Flip!" Athena smiled at him and then turned to her father once the house elf had left. "So? How'd it go? Pretty great, huh? When's the next date?"

At that point all Harry could do was laugh. He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes for a moment before returning his frames. "Flip's brought you one of those chocolate croissants."

"Brill, I'll get to it later. Tea? Bet you want some tea first. Here, I'll pour."

At that point Harry knew that he had to tamper her enthusiasm, but to be honest he was enjoying watching his daughter try to soften him up for details. He graciously accepted the tea, took a sip and noted that she hadn't fixed her own yet. "Sweetie, why don't you..."

"Mervin Knowles said he saw her put her arm in yours and then you held hands. And Jenny Whingforth said she kissed you. On the cheek, but it wasn't a quick peck. Oh, and she tried to fix your hair. I have some ideas, Millie..."

"Athena, stop." Harry sat down his tea. "I am sure your roommate has wonderful ideas about my hair but it's not like you think. Gabrielle and I are just friends."

"Mum always says that's the best way to start, that's what her and Oliver were, friends, and then when she signed with Puddlemere after her contract was up with Harpies her and Oliver were teammates and friends, and it went from there. That's why Teddy and I agreed..."

"No. It's not like that." He saw her look of confusion. "Ducky, we're not going out again. It was just two friends catching up, and...well, giving advice."

"But..." Athena sat back and knitted her brows together. "Dad? Were you a bad date? It's been so long you're probably out of practice." She shook her head. "I told Teddy that we should..."

"Athena Jean." Harry leaned forward. "Stop it. Gabrielle is engaged to some Canadian named Ian. She's a friend. We just had a nice visit. And you had a great match, even if Slytherin lost. And apparently it was a bad date, or that's what she said it would have been if it was an actual date. Apparently I...why am I telling you this? I don't have to tell you these things."

"Daddy? Please?" She slumped in her chair, hair falling over her left eye. "Teddy won't be happy with me. I convinced him to contact Victoire and now...shite."

Seeing his daughter in that mood made Harry ignore the swearing. "I'm sorry that you went to all that trouble. Poor Ted, that couldn't have been easy."

"I'll make it up to him." After pausing she reached forward and grabbed the chocolate croissant, tore off a big hunk and stuffed it in her mouth.

As his daughter chewed Harry sighed. It was so much easier when he could fix things with a _reparo_ or _episkey_ or, her favourite when very small, sticking plasters. Now things were much more complicated. "Listen, I'm sorry that you went to so much effort. I promise that I will find a date for your mum's wedding. Gabrielle and even Ron told me..."

"Uncle Ron? Really?" Athena snort-laughed. "He's such an easy mark." Seeing her father give her one of those looks she continued. "Yeah, ok, I might have involved Ron..."

"And Hermione and your mum."

"Bloody hell, he can't keep a secret to save his life, can he? He's almost as bad as Hagrid."

"Never mind Hagrid, I know what you and Ted have been cooking up and...thank you, Ducky."

"Dammit, Dad, that's twice, _twice_ you've called me that! Stop it! It's embarrassing."

Harry smirked. When she was very small at Christmas Arthur Weasley had given his granddaughter a rubber duckie as a present, and she'd loved it. Taken it everywhere. There were multiple times when he'd had to Floo back to wherever it was to retrieve it or else she couldn't sleep at night. She had almost taken it to Hogwarts her first year, she loved the thing so much. Ducky was one of Harry's little names for her, and she'd always loved it, but now, just like Ted instead of Teddy, she was letting him know that she was growing up. Not that he needed further reminders, especially after that whole bra shopping fiasco when Ginny was still with Harpies, but it made him acutely aware that very, very soon she would be out on her own.

"Dad? Dad? It's getting cold."

Shaking his head slightly and after blinking several times Harry looked at his daughter. She was growing up too fast, just like Molly told him would happen. "I'm sorry, I'll stop with the Ducky. Let's just eat now, ok?"

After a few bites and when he'd handed her the Quidditch section of the Prophet she tilted her head at him. "You did say you're going to have a date, didn't you?"

"I did."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Any idea who?"

"None whatsoever."

Athena nodded her head intently. "So it's not a secret, no problem. I'll let Ted know we still have work to do. Pass the bacon, please."

 _ **A/N: If you read the author's notes at the beginning of the first chapter you'll see that I wasn't sure on the pairing. Well, that became obvious sort of quickly. And then there's the whole pairing thing on the story description. There you go.**_

 _ **I wanted to Netflix this and post all the chapters at once but a few things happened (imagine something awesome happening – it was the opposite) so instead I'm working on the last chapter and hope to have that up soon, if not (looks at clock) today. So you'll get this and chapter 3 right away, with a slight delay for chapter 4.**_

 _ **As always, and like I forgot last A/N, thanks for reading and review if you wish.**_


	3. Cup Qualification

**Playing Defense**

 **Chapter 3: Cup Qualification**

 _Mid October, 2016_

Harry made his way down to the Staff Room after a particularly good lesson with the fourth years. They were grasping the material nicely, and their assignments were appropriately detailed with the usual exceptions. It was while thinking how to get to one particularly obstinate Gryffindor girl that he opened the door, made his way over to the tea trolley and, lost in thought, didn't realise that he wasn't alone.

"A-hem."

He turned to see Daphne sitting on the squashy sofa over by the window. "Sorry. Hello."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Don't you just 'hello' me, Harry. Details?"

"What?" He added his small amount of milk and began stirring. "How did you know?"

She sighed. "Your daughter is in my house. Remember?"

"Right." With a sigh he went over, placed the teacup on the small side table and sat on the other end of the sofa. "It was a date. It was nice. She was nice. I think she thought I was nice. We might do it again, that would be nice. There, satisfied?"

"Absolutely not." She turned on the sofa, facing him, and tucked her legs underneath each other, one foot over the top of the other leg. Seeing his odd look she shook her head. "It's called yoga. Very relaxing. I would suggest you should try it some time but you'd invariably end up in the hospital wing and then we'd never hear the end of your whingeing. And for your information these are called yoga leggings. Much more comfortable under teaching robes and with how drafty the castle is they are very cozy, especially after a few warming charms. For now let's leave my wardrobe out of this and get to the good stuff, shall we? After the dunderheads in my last class I could use some entertainment."

"Dunderheads? Have you been talking to Snape's portrait?"

"Slytherin House rules require using the word. Enough. Spill. Name, age, details." She looked at her watch. "I have an hour."

"You expect me to tell you an hour's worth of stuff? You do know me, right?"

"Regrettably, though on occasion I do pretend otherwise. I'm waiting."

"Fine. Her name's Bernice Fowlke."

 _It had been two weeks earlier when he'd gone over to take Ted to lunch on a Saturday to celebrate Ted's new job. Apparently even if he didn't enjoy working at Games and Sports there were some benefits, namely contacts. One of the office workers at the Tutshill Tornados Quidditch team had taken a position in Australia, and Ted had somehow landed the post. He'd offered to take Ted to dinner that night but for some reason Ted had absolutely insisted that he come for lunch._

 _It was quite obvious when he arrived at Tutshill what Ted's motives were, because not too long after entering the office, and doing the normal round of introductions, Ted made a special effort to introduce him to Judith Fowlke. The Fowlke family had bought the Quidditch team a few years ago and it was a family operation through and through; two of the older sons were in the scouting department and player contracts areas, while Judith managed the public relations area. She was in her twenties, pretty, but there was something about her that Harry just felt was a bit off, something that rubbed him the wrong way. Yes, she was very cordial to him, taking his arm and offering to show him around the facilities, but after a while as they made their way through the offices he realised that even though she hadn't said a word he knew that she was working up to asking him all about the war. After years and years of dealing with it he almost had a sixth sense about it. As for her smile, there was something almost...predatory about it. Thankfully, though, he made an excuse of having another appointment after lunch with Ted and begged off the rest of the tour, asking to be shown back to where Ted worked._

 _Ted was at his desk, grinning madly, when another woman came in to give him a folder of parchment. She was dark-haired, and it didn't take much to see that she must have been part of the Fowlke family as well, as she resembled Judith. With an exception; where Judith was tall and thin the other woman was much shorter and not as thin as her sister. Thankfully Ted introduced him, and Bernice greeted him well enough, but focused on her instructions to Ted about a contract for something or other._

 _He'd started to say something to Ted when Bernice interrupted him and asked him for a word. Intrigued he joined her a few desks away and was surprised when she apologised for her sister. Judith had been instrumental in Ted's hiring, and Bernice had overheard a conversation with their father about somehow having Harry in their promotional materials. Before Harry could say anything Bernice promised him that she would keep him out of the PR efforts and that she would make sure that they wouldn't take it out on Ted when that happened._

 _He wasn't sure exactly why the idea popped into his head, but he found her somewhat refreshing. Easy on the eyes, which he mentally chastised himself for, because looks weren't everything, he'd learned that the hard way. She had a pleasant voice, and an air about her that he liked, and for some reason that just struck a nerve._

"So you asked her out? Right there? After everything she just told you?" Daphne laughed. "Harry, that's something, even for you. Gryffindor just blustering ahead without thinking as usual."

"What do you mean?" Harry took a sip of tea. "I can't win, everyone, including you, has been giving me stick for not asking a woman out on a date and now I've done it wrong? She said yes, you know. We went out last night, so it can't have been that bad."

After a deep sigh Daphne shook her head. "Bernice, poor woman, that's not a name I'd choose, but it's not her fault. Let's see." She started ticking things off on her fingers. "She works with her family. Ted's obviously talked you up to her...older? Younger?"

"Younger sister. Bernice is four years older." He saw her waiting. "She's 29 so Judith is 25."

"Well done, breaks the older woman streak. I'm not counting the Delacour girl for obvious reasons. Let's continue. Her younger sister is the one who I'm guessing always tends to get her way because she's the baby, and you've just said 'nope, I'll take the other one.' Not to mention that you've just upended whatever publicity they were planning. Oh, and now Ted's job is going to be on rather shaky terms."

Harry shook his head. "Bernice said she'd make sure..."

"Harry. Really?" Daphne sighed. "You may have a Slytherin daughter but you, my friend, are a Gryiffindor through and through. You just went on a date with your godson's boss. Normally I'd say that when it ends she'd be vindictive against Teddy, but since you have a track record of ending things amicably with Weasley you might just fly through that one ok."

"Merlin's fucking pants, Daphne. We just went out one date and you've got things ending. Do you want to know how the date went or should I just..."

"No, no, sorry." She reached over and patted him sarcastically on the shoulder. "There, there, it's ok. Tell me how it went."

"Fine." Harry took another sip of tea. "Well..."

"And for the love of Hecate please tell me Quidditch was not involved."

"Are you going to let me tell this or not?"

"Sorry. Do continue."

After a long sigh he shook his head. "And you think it's a wonder I'm single. Right. Well, since it's still hard for me to go out into the magical world without having some sort of photographer or people being nosy..." he paused and stared at her, which had absolutely no effect whatsoever "...we went Muggle. She'd never seen a movie before, so we went to the cinema. After that we had dinner and coffee."

She feigned shock. "I can't believe that!"

"Huh?" He gave her a confused look. "You know I grew up Muggle, going to the cinema is no big deal."

Waving him off she shook her head. "No, not that. Coffee. I've been teaching with you for years now and I've only seen you drink tea."

"Bloody hell." He ran a hand through his hair. "This might take all hour."

Unfortunately for Harry he wasn't able to continue right away because the door opened and the unmistakable form of Minerva McGonagall walked in. "I do hope I am not interrupting anything."

Daphne make a smarmy, welcoming face. "Of course not, pull up a chair, Harry's just telling me all about his date."

The corners of Minerva's mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly. "Athena will be pleased." She sat in a nearby chair. "Do continue."

Harry let his head fall back on the sofa. "Oh God."

Minerva looked over to Daphne. "It can't have been that bad. It wasn't that bad, was it? He is somewhat out of practise."

After a few moments Harry lifted his head up. "Ok, here's a quick summary that's only taken me forever to tell Daphne because she keeps interrupting. Ted's taken a job with Tutsill in their office and..."

A quick knock on the Staff Room door was almost immediately followed by the door opening. "Is Dad in here?"

"Athena?" Harry turned to the door. "You're not allowed in here, it's the Staff Room. No students."

As Athena stood in the open doorway Minerva waved her in. "I'll allow it. She's been coming in here for years, what's one more visit? Oh, and Athena, if it isn't too much trouble could I have a cup of tea, please? You remember how I take it, I hope."

With a giant grin Athena closed the door behind her, went to the tea trolley and fixed her Headmistress a cup of tea. It had been hard for her to think of her as a Headmistress when she was a first year; after all, she'd grown up with 'Auntie Minerva' helping watch her for years. Tea sorted, she handed the cup to Minerva and then plopped herself on the sofa, right between her father and her head of house. "So how was the date, Dad? Ted's owl said that you kinda threw his plans off, never thought you would be interested in his boss. Said it was probably the boobs." She turned to Daphne and mouthed 'big ones.'

Harry couldn't believe his daughter and watched as Minerva coughed slightly on her sip of tea. "Athena Jean Weasley-Potter, we'll have words later about that. For the record, NO, but let's move on. Like I told Daphne _ages ago_ we went to the cinema, it wasn't one of the ones that show the most current movies because I didn't want it to be too crowded for her. She thought it was hilarious, because of how Muggles see ghosts." He saw every eye looking at him. "It's called Ghostbusters, and she thought the women in it were quite funny, but I'll explain it later, that's not the important part. She liked it, and then after it was over we went to a nice restaurant and had a nice time talking during our meal. We didn't want to stop the night there so we went out for coffee. There. That's it. Satisfied?"

"Hmmm..." Athena glanced at Daphne and then turned to her father. "So...did you kiss her goodnight?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not telling you that."

Athena turned to Daphne. "So yes, then?"

Daphne nodded. "That's a yes."

Harry saw Minerva chuckling and rolled his eyes. "Dammit, this is why I never date. This. Right here. This." He stood up. "I'm going to go grade some papers."

Daphne took a look at her watch. "You didn't tell us, will there be a second date? I still have twenty minutes left."

"Nope. I'm done." Without another word Harry glared at his daughter and left the Staff Room.

All three witches looked at each other for a moment and then simultaneously burst into laughter.

-ooo-

 _Mid December_

It was on a Sunday morning that Harry felt as if the walls of Hogwarts were closing in on him. He got out of bed, went to the loo almost mechanically and sat down at his little table without really looking at anything. Flip arrived with breakfast, tea and the Prophet, but nothing seemed to have any taste to it; he chewed, swallowed, and eventually all the food on the plates was gone but he hadn't really enjoyed any of it. Tea was consumed and afterwards he simply sat there at the table, unable to move.

Eventually he got up and went to his wardrobe, which seemed to drive the point home even further. All of the clothes were the ones that Ted and Athena had picked out for him, mostly Ted, and he didn't want to wear any of them. They were nice, fit well, and markedly newer than the rest of his clothing, but they just weren't...right. He dug through the dresser and found an old pair of jeans, put on a thick pair of woolen socks and found a faded Chudley Cannons t-shirt Ron had given him as a birthday present ages ago. Slipping it over his head he was happy because it was soft, even if the left armpit did have a hole. There was a spell to fix that, obviously, but he'd never learned. After pulling out one of Molly's Christmas jumpers he put that on, irritated that he managed to get his arm stuck somehow, but once that was done he wasn't sure exactly what to do next.

As he watched the snow come down outside his window he ignored the smouldering ashes of his fireplace and pulled over the boots from under the table. Ted had been right, they were really comfortable, and with what he was contemplating they would be necessary. He pulled out more Molly woolens, a hat and scarf, and once those were appropriately fitted he pulled out the heavy black coat from the back of the wardrobe. Knowing that he would get questions for the first time in ages he went over to his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak, draped it over and headed out the door.

He made it down the staircases rather easily, only a few early risers about on a Sunday morning as usual, and only had to avoid Peeves to make it out of the castle. Once outside the snow and wind began to pelt at him and he pulled the cloak off, stowing it inside his coat. It was also at that time he realised that he'd forgotten his gloves, so jamming his hands into his coat pockets he set off. It wasn't hard going, though, as despite the snow and wind there was one set of footsteps leading away from the castle so he simply made sure he stepped in the tracks.

Eventually he arrived at his destination, and not wanting to startle him he knocked on the greenhouse door. A few moments later Neville appeared at the doorway, a very surprised look on his face. "Harry? What on earth? Get in, it's horrible out there."

"Thanks." Harry stepped inside and waited for Neville to close the door. As Neville turned to him he noticed that, despite the nasty weather, his old friend was wearing a t-shirt and a rather loud pair of Bermuda shorts. "Aren't you cold?"

Neville looked at Harry as if he'd grown another head and laughed. "I'll wait."

It didn't take long for Harry to realise what was going on, as it became rather obvious that the greenhouse temperature was much, much different than outside. "Bloody hell." He pulled off the hat and scarf, took off his coat and then, after hesitating, pulled the jumper over his head. "Remind me to come out here more often. First time I've really been warm in weeks."

"Herbology does have it's perks." Neville took a few steps over to one of the long tables that ran along the sides of the greenhouse, sat down his tools and plopped himself on a stool. He didn't say anything, but nodded towards the other side of the table.

Taking the hint Harry eased himself onto one of the stools, which initially was rather high, making his knees almost hit the top of the table, but after a moment it began shrinking, leveling out perfectly. "I'd forgotten about the stools."

"You don't come out to the greenhouses very often." Neville paused. "So what's the special occasion?"

Blowing out his cheeks Harry exhaled deeply. "I got dumped."

"Bernice dumped you?" Neville raised an eyebrow. From what he and Harry had talked about things seemed to be going well with the woman. "I'm sorry to hear that. How are you holding up?"

"To be honest I'm not really sure. I liked her, but she said, well...she said dating me was difficult." He felt his feet sweating like crazy in the boots and woolen socks. "Baggage."

"Ah, yes, well, Harry, there's baggage and then there's baggage. I'm afraid you have the second sort." He grimaced. "I'm sorry, that's not what you need to hear right now."

"But she's right and you are, too. First off there's the whole war thing, that's a big one. There's things I just...I'm not going to talk about. With...I mean, only..."

Neville nodded. "I understand. Things that only you and Hermione and Ron will comprehend. That's ok."

"And Athena, she knows most of it. Not all, but most. But you get it because there's stuff that you went through that I didn't. We made it through, doesn't mean we want to pop down to the pub and spill it all over pints all the time. We've talked over the years, Nev, and outside of Ron and Hermione you know more than most, so you know why I don't like to talk about it. She said it meant that I didn't trust her."

"Hmmm." Neville absentmindedly tapped some dirt off one of his tools. "How old is she again?"

"Twenty-nine."

"So if I do the maths that means that when everything was going on she was nine, not even at Hogwarts yet. She doesn't understand."

"No shit." Harry's laugh held no mirth. "Merlin, it's a good thing I was an Auror as long as I was before coming here or I could have potentially taught her. How awkward would that be?"

"Yes, that would be uncomfortable." The two men sat silently at the table for a moment until Neville couldn't help but ask. "I'm sorry, I know dredging it all back up again isn't pleasant, but if we learned anything from the past it's that sometimes we need to talk things out. The baggage was more than the war, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Harry stood up and began walking along the edge of the table. "There's the whole thing with her family, they weren't too happy that I made it plain that I wouldn't be sitting in the 'free seats' they were providing Ted, seats that just happened to be prime locations for photographers. So there's that, she was getting pressure from them. Thankfully she helped Ted get the job with Wigtown. Daphne was right, dammit. And..."

"Stop!" Neville's wand arm came up abruptly. "Skin contact with those leaves will not be pleasant."

"Shit! Sorry!" Harry took several steps backwards before returning to the table. "Sorry, which greenhouse is this?"

"Three."

"Damn. Should have looked. How about I just sit?"

Neville sat his wand down on the table. "That would be best."

"Sorry." Harry leaned over the table as the stool adjusted. "So besides her family and Ted's job, if that wasn't enough, there's Ginny, the fact that I teach here and that I have an eighteen year old godson and a seventeen year old daughter. There's not that much age difference and, well, she said she wasn't sure she wanted to take all that on."

"Harry, if I may...how serious was this? Because these are questions that..."

"I don't know, really. I mean, we'd been dating about two months, maybe more, I can't recall how long exactly, but that's it. She said that she liked me, that we got on well, but that if there wasn't a possible future then it would be hard to...dammit, Neville, I just wanted a date to Ginny's wedding. I hadn't even thought about this crap until Athena's plan, and then what Gabrielle told me. It was just a date, just for Ginny's wedding. That's what I told myself at first, and I wasn't sure if there was going to be anything more than that, but..."

"But it sucks being told that there isn't." Neville looked at him intently. "According to one of my first year Gryffindors it must 'suck Thestral balls' or something like that."

That made Harry laugh as he knew exactly which student he was talking about. "Cordelia?"

"Cordelia."

"Well she's right. Even though, if I'm honest, I hadn't even thought of that. Really, I was just enjoying being out with her, doing things, even if we never really talked about anything important. And sometimes I just shrugged stuff off, when I'd make a reference and she wouldn't get it, or she wouldn't get a joke or think that I was taking the mickey when I wasn't."

Once again Neville chuckled, but it wasn't at Harry's expense. "I'm sorry, Harry, but this sounds like me and Susan all over again. We dated for a year, and it was always like that. Let me ask you, did you ever feel comfortable? At ease? Or was it like you were always trying to show her the best version of Harry Potter instead of you?"

"Isn't everybody on their best behaviour when they're dating?"

"Well, yes, but eventually that goes away. That's what happened with Hannah and we've been married ten years now. I'm not saying to start looking at marriage criteria right from the off, but...is that something you're thinking about? Sorry, I..."

"Neville, I've known you since we were eleven. I don't think there's too much you can't ask me. And I don't know. Maybe? If anything this whole fiasco has made me think about things, and it's going to be worse when Athena's gone. Just think, me and Kreacher, alone at Grimmauld until the end of time."

"No, Athena would never let that happen. We would never let that happen. If anything I think this has been good for you, you're figuring out what you want, possibly for the first time in ages. And since we're both sweating our bollocks off out here while it's snowing outside I'll just keep going until you tell me to stop. What _do_ you want, Harry?"

At that question Harry's brain came to a crashing halt. What did he want? Once again, without remembering Neville's warnings, he got up and began to pace. As he walked about Neville quietly took his wand and extended the table at the far end, blocking off access to the more troublesome plants.

"I don't know, Neville. I really don't. I mean, I want someone who knows about all the stuff from the war, and knows enough that there are things that I really don't want to talk about and just leaves it at that. That's one thing. And then...Merlin. Someone who will listen, someone who's fun to be around, someone who doesn't care if I like wearing things I've had for years, someone who understands why I like going to Muggle things, someone who understands that my schedule is going to be different because I teach here. I can't just pop out on a weeknight for something, you know. Bernice wanted me to go to a thing with her but it was on a Wednesday. I have rounds on Wednesday; sure, I could trade it with someone, but it's just a pain in the arse." He stopped pacing and turned back to Neville's attentive figure. "And the most important thing is someone who will be good to Athena, because she's the most important thing in my life. She's got to understand that, whoever she is." He threw his hands up in the air. "Not asking for much, huh?"

"Well, it's you, Harry. That's what makes you, you. What you want, what you need. We're all different. We all need different things, and just because that's what you need doesn't make it wrong or right, it just makes it you."

After staring at him for a moment Harry shook his head. "Damn, Neville, how'd you get so smart?"

At that Neville gave a big, honest laugh. "Failure! Lots and lots of it!" After wiping his hand over his forehead he waggled his eyebrows. "Plus I listened to Ron when he and Hermione were figuring things out. You were busy with the Aurors. Trust me, I've heard this a few times before."

"This." Harry pointed at him. "This is why you're a great head of house. You deal with this kind of stuff a lot, don't you?"

"On occasion. Oh." Neville's face formed in what, in most cultures, was the universal expression for 'this isn't going to be good.'

"What?" Harry sat down again. "Nev?"

After a deep breath Neville blinked several times. "Yes. Well. I won't betray the Gryffindor who came to me, but it was about Athena. The boy is rather enamoured with your daughter, but when he made his intentions known she informed him that she was flattered but was seeing someone else."

"MacGillig? Again?" Harry sighed. It had been hard watching his daughter go through the pains of dating, especially hard as one of her professors, but the breakup with Ravenclaw Conor MacGillig her fifth year hadn't been easy. "I thought that was over." He looked over to Neville who, at that moment, looked as if he wished he had never said a word. "Ok, come on, after all that's gone on today you can't just leave it like that. It can't be that bad. It's not that bad, is it? Just tell me and I won't say a word, she won't know and I won't do anything unless she tells me."

"She's dating Ted."

"Ted? Ted who?"

"Harry, it's Teddy Lupin."

Harry's mouth opened to say a word but nothing came out. After a second failed attempt on the third attempt he actually managed to form a word. "Oh."

"Precisely."

-ooo-

 _20 December_

It was obvious that the students were restless for Christmas break because Harry had to actually take away points for the first time in ages. Two of his second year students, both Gryffindors, could not stop talking during class. He warned them once, gave them what older students called the 'scary face of doom' and after a bit had just resumed their conversation, causing him to slightly lose his temper. The rest of class was a shambles after that.

Still in a bad mood Harry was glad that he had a break before the seventh year class, which always seemed to put him in a better mood, especially as they had pestered him about the _patronus_ spell after learning it would earn them extra credit on their NEWTS. At least he had that to look forward to. It was while thinking about how to introduce that spell that he entered the Staff Room, happy that it was, for once, empty. At least that's what he thought until he heard her clear her throat.

Without turning from the tea trolley he said "Hello, Daphne."

"And how did you know it was me?"

He turned from the trolley and saw her in the far corner, by the fireplace. "I know that sound."

"At least I'm not forgettable." She saw his face. "Bad lesson?"

"Yeah." He sat down in the other chair next to the fireplace, glad of its warmth. "Took away points today."

"What? You?" She mock-clutched her chest. "No! You're the good professor!"

"Whatever." He took a sip of tea. "Now I know why Arithmancy starts at third year, hopefully by then they've got it out of their systems."

"You'd be surprised. But I don't take away many points."

He laughed. "That's because you scare them."

"As intended." She took a sip of her tea, debated a bit, and then turned towards him. "Normally I wouldn't say anything, but Athena came to me the other day. Harry, she still hasn't told you, has she?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "And I've had a letter from Ted, he didn't say a word."

"Think about it, Harry. They don't know what to say. Put yourself in their place, how would you feel?"

"It doesn't seem right, like they're brother and sister." He saw her arch an eyebrow. "Ok, you're right, I know, they're not, and Ted didn't live with me, he'd just stay over when he wasn't at Andromeda's place every now and then, but I have no idea what I'm going to do about Christmas." He saw her quizzical look and rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. Andromeda is going to Greece with Narcissa of all people."

"They are sisters. Blood is thicker than being married to a git like Lucius Malfoy. Thank Merlin that woman came to her senses and divorced him after everything that happened. That was one of your last cases, wasn't it? Before you left the Aurors?"

"Yeah. It was. Can't tell you how good it felt to arrest Lucius and Draco. You would have thought the two of them would have been smarter than to try and trade in illegal creatures, dark objects, illegal potions, anything to get Galleons. Then again, Draco never was that smart."

"Thank Hecate that Astoria broke with him before that. Of course, that did mean she married Finnegan of all people. At least I'm escaping that joyous gathering this holiday." She saw him look at her inquisitively. "The Finnegans, as well as my parents, are all going to America to visit his family over there. Someplace called Boston. Mum believes it is a 'great opportunity to get to know the family.' I'd rather kiss the giant squid."

Harry shrugged. "He probably wouldn't mind." After seeing Daphne's eye roll something popped into his head. "So what are you doing for Christmas?"

"Taking a long bath, eating takeaway and opening a bottle of wine." Her eyes narrowed. After so long she knew exactly what he was thinking. "Do you think that's for the best?"

"You shouldn't be alone for Christmas. Plus you'd be helping me out. Athena loves you, plus..."

"I scare the shit out of Lupin." She chuckled. "That would put him on his best behaviour."

"Well, that and Kreacher. My house elf." Harry took another sip of tea. "They hate each other, Kreacher and Ted. Something happened and neither one will tell me what happened, which I think is weird because Kreacher still calls me Master and all that. Hermione says if I hadn't freed him and hired him back on then he probably would have been forced to tell me."

Daphne examined her nails. "Well, Hermione obviously couldn't foresee that change. She's the Auror, tell her to investigate."

"Right. Anyway, Christmas?" He saw her hesitate. "I'm not a bad cook, and there's always biscuits. We make them and decorate them, so the food's good."

"What about Weasley and Wood?"

Harry shook his head. "They're at his parents' place this year, and Athena and I agreed it would be good to give them some time, this year especially. We're going to the Puddlemere Boxing Day match, though, and Athena's going to their place afterwards."

"Oh, Quidditch. You know me so well, that's the bait to set the hook." She smirked at him. "Well, the things one must endure. Thank you, Harry. I would love to come to Christmas.

-ooo-

It had been a good match for both Mr. Wood and the future Mrs. Wood, as Puddlemere had soundly trounced Wigtown. As the weather was rather nasty it had been a relief to everyone involved that the match was rather short, lasting only a little under an hour before the Puddlemere Seeker grasped the Snitch. Once the press conference was done, and the pictures taken, Ginny and Oliver made their way out of the press area and back into what was known as the Hurry Up room. As this was the room where family and friends waited for the players to finish their official duties, the phrase had been uttered more than once. Oliver opened the door, and after Ginny entered he followed, almost running into the back of his fiancee.

"Ginny, what's wrong?"

"Shh, Oliver." She took his arm and pulled him down so she could whisper. "Don't say anything but look over there in the far corner."

Oliver lifted his head and there, where Ginny indicated, was Athena and Ted. They were sitting close together, holding hands, and her head was on his shoulder. "I told you, love."

"Yes, you were right." She straightened her shoulders. "Ok, let's see what happens." As they began walking towards them Ginny saw Athena recognise them, and the unmistakable Weasley blush began on her daughter.

Ted stood up suddenly but didn't make it all the way up as Athena, still seated, continued to hold his hand. After a quick tug Athena got up, but did not let go of him.

"Mum, Oliver, you were great." Athena's voice was a little higher pitched than usual.

"Looks like you two are doing great as well." Oliver smirked. "So, news, then?"

Athena took a deep breath. "Mum, Ollie, Teddy and I are dating it's been really since September but not really since I'm at school and Dad knows now I think Daphne figured it out first."

"Breathe, sweetie." Ginny smiled. "You need to breathe every now and then. At least I know your boyfriend." She turned to Ted. "And I know I don't need to say..."

Ted shook his head rapidly. "Oh no, Harry and Professor Greengrass made sure of that, right when I got to Grimmauld Place. Very sure."

Oliver cocked an eyebrow. "Daphne Greengrass was at your Christmas, then, is that right? Well, well, well."

Ginny glanced back up to Oliver. "Later." Turning back she nodded emphatically. "Ok, come on you two, I'm hungry. Come on, get your things and let's go." As Athena and Ted went back to get their coats she turned to Oliver. "So Harry added her to his ward list, interesting. Very interesting. If this is what I think it is Neville might get a nice little after-Christmas bonus."

"Bonus? What are you on about?" Oliver took her hand. "Are you telling me..."

"There's a pool on who Harry's taking to the wedding. McGonagall started it, if you can believe that." She focused on her daughter walking towards her, and it still somewhat startled her, seeing Athena and Ted holding hands. "Chinese?"

 _ **A/N: One more chapter to go. For those of you going 'oh good grief you always have a wedding' yeah, not exactly. You'll see.**_

 _ **Poor Harry, getting ganged up on like that. At least he's got Neville. Everyone needs a friend like Neville. Ok, last chapter coming up soon. I promise. Really.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.**_


	4. Championship

**Playing Defense**

 **Chapter 4: Championship**

 _1st January, 2017_

The fire burbled along nicely in the fireplace of the Grimmauld Place sitting room, casting it's warmth in a fairly large radius. As the morning light began to increase through the windows Harry sat in his favourite chair, tea on a sidetable, and leafed through one of the international defense journals. He had wanted to wait up for Athena to come home from her New Year's date with Ted but had decided that he needed to let her have a bit of space; as much as he loved Molly she was a bit controlling, and as she was one of his main references for parenting sometimes he had to think about what Molly would do and wonder what he should do. When he and Ginny were new parents and learning how to do things, especially when Athena was small, Molly was invaluable. But now? With his teenage daughter? The teenage daughter who was technically of age? He wondered now how Molly had stayed sane, all of those hormones and emotions under one roof. Usually, though, he thought about what Arthur would do; that was normally the best course of action.

Footsteps overhead let him know she was up, followed shortly by Kreacher who came into the room slowly. Kreacher cleared his throat. "Mistress Athena was quite upset when she came in. Very upset, yes. Kreacher had to repair a chair and clean. Messy Mistress Athena."

Letting out an exasperated sigh Harry nodded. "Thank you, Kreacher. Maybe a good breakfast will help. Do you mind?"

"Kreacher will do as Master Harry commands." With a faint bow Kreacher turned and made his way out of the room.

Sitting down his journal Harry stood up and went to the fireplace, prodding the flames a bit higher with his wand and began muttering to himself. "Why can't this happen when she's with Ginny, always me? I'm not good at this, this is going to be McGillig all over but ten times worse. Dammit."

Steeling himself to pick up the pieces he adjusted his glasses, buttoned another button on his cardigan and went into the kitchen. Kreacher was in full house elf cooking mode as ingredients flew about the cooker, eggs cracked in mid-air and deposited themselves in a bowl, but thankfully for Harry a cup of tea levitated over from the counter and landed quite softly on the table without spilling a drop. He sat down, took a sip of tea and waited.

It didn't take long. Athena stomped downstairs, hair askew and wearing what he knew were her 'comfy' pyjamas, the ones she wore when she was ill, sad or upset. She didn't look ill, the expression wasn't sad so that just left the last one. He didn't say a word as she sat down in her usual spot, didn't even look at him and just stared straight at the table without really looking. After a bit he waited, to see if she would say anything but she kept staring at what must have been the salt shaker, even after Kreacher put a plate and tea in front of her. Sometimes she was just like her mother.

Harry adjusted his glasses and reached for the Daily Prophet, opened it up and began to half-heartedly read, not really paying attention, just skimming things to pass the time until she was ready to say something. He'd made it to the Quidditch page, a feature about the creation of a lower-level league feeding the British and Irish League cup with players not quite ready for the top team, when he heard her sigh. Not a weary, resigned sigh but something angry. He folded down the paper and looked at her. "Something wrong?"

"Wrong?" She took off her glasses and tossed them on the table, unfortunately landing in her oatmeal. "Wrong? Everything's wrong!"

"Oh? Sorry."

"Sorry?" She looked at him incredulously? "Merlin, Dad, really? That's it? Sorry? Do you know what _Edward_ did now?"

Grimacing, Harry steeled himself for the onslaught. This was what he had worried about when Ted and Athena began dating. It must be bad, as she had called Ted by his given name, and the only time that happened was when he was in trouble. "Sorry, Ducky, I don't."

"He's going with Wigtown...to America!" She picked up her tea to take a sip but then sat it down roughly, spilling a great portion. "America! Wigtown's got some stupid team called the Seattle Sasquatches! All the way over there. You should have heard him, 'oh Thena, it's a great opportunity, I'm with the advance team getting the Sasquatches started and not just as a paper pusher' blah, blah, blah. Didn't even think about me, did he? He knows, he _knows_ that I don't leave Hogwarts until June. It's so, so..."

Harry put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, sweetie."

She sniffed, rubbing the back of her hand across her nose and shook her head. "He said we can write but that's crap. He's going to meet some American witch over there and, and...well screw him. He can go snog a damned Sasquatch for all I care." Suddenly her eyes narrowed and she turned to her father. "And then there's you."

"Me? What did I do?"

After rolling her eyes dramatically she turned to him. "You still don't have a date to Mum's wedding, do you? Do you? I mean, why not, you're _such_ a catch. You're wearing that awful cardy, your hair is terrible and all you ever do is teach or hang around the house. Don't you ever do anything? Go to an art gallery, go to...I don't know, just do _something_? What kind of life is that? I'll tell you, it's sad and horrible and lonely and you haven't even gone out on any of the dates except Gabrielle and that was crap. And you screwed it up with that one witch that _somehow_ decided to date you. You're not going to have a date for Mum's wedding, I know you aren't. All that research and for what? Nothing. Nothing. Wonderful, and now I won't have a date either. Fucking hell."

"Language, Thena. Now, I don't, but there's still time. Don't worry about me, that's not important."

"Brilliant. Brilliant." Her shoulders rose and fell rapidly as she was breathing hard. "We're probably cursed, that's it. It's the Potter curse. Something horrible will happen to Mum and she and Ollie won't get married, I mean, she isn't a Potter but she almost was and...look at it. You and Mum didn't last, me and _Edward_ didn't last, and you can't even go on a simple date or find someone to put up with all of your crap. I'm going to be single for the rest of my life just like you. Least I didn't get a scar...that you can see, anyway." Shoving herself violently away from the table she got up and walked out of the room, going upstairs, muttering to herself all the way.

He listened as she semi-stomped into her room and winced as the door slammed shut but then everything went completely silent. As Kreacher cleared the spilled tea, removed Athena's glasses from the oatmeal, cleaned them and then put a stasis spell on Athena's food Harry sat back in his chair and took off his glasses. There were times when having Ginny around would make things easier, and this was one of them. Thankfully Ginny would come over when things happened, what he thought of as 'girl things' but it had taken him long enough to realise that it wasn't a girl or boy thing, it was just a person thing. Usually he dealt with the ups and downs fairly well, but this time he needed another opinion. Unfortunately Ginny was not available, so he thought of one person immediately.

With an ear still cocked towards the upstairs Harry went into the formal living room and knelt next to the fireplace, took out his wand and flicked it. Shortly the head of Daphne Greengrass appeared in the flames.

"Happy New Year, Harry...what happened? Something wrong?"

"Uh, yeah. Thena and Ted broke up. Well, I think they did, though she didn't say exactly, but...well, she's..."

"I see." Daphne paused. "Need a hand?"

"Please?" After coming to his feet Harry stepped away from the fireplace, motioned with his wand at the flames and was shortly joined by Daphne. "Thanks, sorry to bother you the day after New Year's. Hopefully you didn't celebrate too much."

She shook her head. "No, just a quiet evening with my parents and a few of their friends." She motioned towards the sofa with her head, sitting when Harry got the hint. "So what happened?" After listening to Harry give her a replay of the breakfast conversation Daphne gave him empathetic smile. "It's never easy, but I'm afraid Lupin was particularly tactless. He told her on their New Year's date? Merlin, what a Gryffindor. It's amazing you lot ever get married."

"I didn't." He watched her just look at him for a while before it sank in. "Oh. Right."

"She's going to have to learn to deal with it, I'm afraid. Part and parcel of growing up. It's never enjoyable, but at least Lupin gave her a story to beat all of her friends' tales." She paused and saw his look. "Over drinks, some day in the future, she'll trade stories with her friends and there will be a competition on who can tell the worst dating stories."

"Great. So she can get a free drink or two off of this in the future. Doesn't help me now. Ted's gonna be at the wedding, so this will be a pleasant event all the way around then. Bollocks."

Daphne ignored him for a moment, instead focusing on the pictures over the fireplace mantle. In one photo Harry and Ginny stood behind a young Athena who tightly clutched what must have been her first broom. In another photo Athena sat amongst the Weasley family at the Burrow; Daphne recognised the background from her Christmas visit. The largest photo was of Harry and a very small Athena on his broom, zooming around, Athena's hair steaming behind her and joy evident upon her face. She turned to Harry. "When she has problems, who does she usually go to? You? Ginny? Her grandmother?"

Harry slunk a bit lower on the sofa and put his hands in the pockets of his cardigan. "Me, mostly. Ginny when she's available." He shook his head. "When she was small when I told her no she'd run to Ginny. She knows better now but she usually goes to Ginny when it's dating stuff." He paused. "Sometimes she goes to Molly or Hermione, definitely Hermione if it's school-related. But she's been, really, pretty easy compared with some of the stories we get, what we see at school. No drugs or sneaking off or any of that stuff. But what do I do? I mean, she's of age. If she wanted to leave she could."

"But she'd have to go back to school. And she may be of age but we both know that doesn't mean she's grown up. Regardless of age this is never easy." As the clock on the wall chimed Daphne began tapping her nails on the arm of the sofa.

"So what's your plan?"

Daphne stopped tapping. "Whatever do you mean?"

He tapped his fingers on the sofa. "This means you've got some sort of idea. You always do that when you come up with something."

"I had no idea you're that observant. Well, I did have a thought. What are your plans today? Her plans?"

"I have no idea about Thena but I'm getting a haircut."

"You are?" Daphne feigned shock. "I'm speechless."

"Right. Funny." There was no humour in Harry's voice, though. "Gabrielle Delacour gave me the name of a salon. You know, for the wedding next week. Have to look good even though right now, if it wasn't Ginny, with everything going on I wouldn't even go. So what are you thinking?"

"I think I will see if Athena wants to go with me, I have to do a bit of shopping. Perhaps lunch."

"Worth a shot." Harry shrugged and watched as Daphne went upstairs. He thought that she would be back down almost immediately, imagining all the awful things Athena would say, but instead nothing happened. He waited a bit longer and then, unable to just sit and not do anything, went back into the kitchen to fix another cup of tea.

He'd just sat the tea down and had picked up the Prophet when Athena and Daphne came into the living room. Athena didn't look at him but went into the fireplace, stood there and stared at her shoetops for a moment but then glared at him. Daphne gave him a small glance and took Athena's arm, threw down the Floo powder and then they were gone. After a moment Harry sat down the paper and shook his head. Arthur said there would be days like this.

-ooo-

In his formal robes Ron stood at the bar, waiting on his drinks order. The wedding, thank Merlin, had been mercifully short, even if it seemed like Hermione had made him get ready what seemed like days ago. As the bartender filled everybody's order but his he tapped his feet, growing increasingly irritated, but that was interrupted.

"Hullo, Ron. Nice ceremony."

He turned to see Neville standing there, smiling. "Yeah, the best kind. Over. Fair warning, the bartender is slow as hell."

"Oh, well he is rather busy." Neville shrugged. "So do you know Harry's date? I was rather hoping he would take Daphne. Would have won a nice bit of gold."

"Yeah, right. The pool. Who won that?" Before Neville could answer the bartender appeared, took Neville's order and then asked Ron what he wanted. Irritated, Ron repeated his order and shook his head as the man disappeared. "Bloody hell, horrible service."

"Hannah would not be pleased if it was one of hers." Neville shrugged. "Flitwick won, said it would be someone nobody guessed."

"Spot on, then." Ron shook his head. "Her name's Robin Moore or Mund or...dunno, can't remember. He met her when she cut his hair."

"So he asked out..."

"His hairdresser. Yeah, I know. Mental, right? She's alright, I guess. Never would have picked her, all those tattoos and stuff. Athena's plan didn't work, but he did have a date so I guess it wasn't all bad."

The bartender arrived, this time with the proper amount of drinks, so the two Gryffindors headed away towards the tables. Ron caught Hermione's eye and motioned with his head so she left the conversation with two witches and joined them.

"Hello, Neville. How are you?" Hermione took her drink from her husband. "How is Herbology these days?"

"Hello, it's coming along nicely. I do have some interested students, but it's not as popular as Harry's class." He pointed off to the right. "Hannah's over there."

After joining the table the conversation amongst friends was warm, casual and enjoyable, but once again the topic of Harry's date came up. Hannah smiled knowingly and turned to Hermione. "Do me a favour; look over there by the window and tell me what you see."

Hermione casually turned but Ron physically turned his chair, causing a screech on the floor. After giving her husband a gentle swat on the arm for being so completely obvious Hermione's eyebrow raised slightly. Turning back to Hannah she gave her an inquiring look.

"They've been sitting next to each other chatting for quite some time. They've even danced twice. Slow songs."

Ron turned back to the table. "So what? Why wouldn't Harry dance with his date?"

Hannah shook her head. "No, not her. Greengrass."

"What about her?" Ron looked confused. "She came with Finch-Fletchly."

"And where is Justin?" Hermione looked at her husband. "Honestly, Ron. Look. Harry's date is talking to some man I don't know and Harry and Daphne are sitting rather closely."

Looking forlornly at his drink Neville shook his head. "Dammit, Harry, I could have won but no, you have to figure it out now."

Finally the _lumos_ went off for Ron. "Wait, so him and Daphne...but why'd he take tattoo girl then?"

"I don't know, Ronald." Hermione shook her head. "Maybe he didn't want to do anything because she's Athena's head of house."

Somewhere in Ron's brain he registered that his wife was talking, as he nodded and said 'uh-huh.' But his attention was over in the corner, seeing his neice standing next to a tall man in very expensive robes. When the man turned he recognised the face; saying 'back in a minute' without seeing if anyone had registered his comment he began to thread through the crowd, eventually working his way over to where his neice and the man stood.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, you got a sec, Thena?" After nodding towards the man he put his arm around his neice and walked her a ways away, ending up by one of the windows looking out on the lights of the courtyard outside. "This game never ends like you think and it always ends badly. Trust me."

Athena turned, her face burning with Weasley anger, and glared at her uncle. How dare he break up her conversation! "Do you know who I was..."

"Yup. Fletcher Buttan. Chudley tried to sign him during the summer window." He took a sip of his drink. "And I know he's twenty years older than you, been married twice and has three kids. Brought his last girlfriend into the shop with the kids, she was a piece of work. I know you're mad at Teddy but don't do something really stupid. What would you Dad say?"

"Dad? Really?" Athena slumped against the wall. "I'm seventeen, you and Dad..."

"Know enough that..." Ron ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, and I mean, listen Athena. Not tonight. Tomorrow if you want to snog Fletcher in the middle of Diagon Alley you do that but don't do it tonight. It's hard enough for your dad being here and what will your mum say? Huh? Just behave for one bloody night. He brought a date, he's been fine, Ginny and Oliver are happy, just let it be."

"But Ted's an inconsiderate, stubborn..." She stopped as her uncle began laughing. "It's not that funny."

"Oh no, it is." How old's Ted now, nineteen? Twenty? So what? I still do stupid stuff. Your dad still does stupid stuff. I was the king of doing inconsiderate shite...Ted's in the lower leagues, trust me. Just don't do anything stupid tonight. You're smarter than that. You'll figure it out, just like your dad is doing now." He watched her face, deliberating, and it reminded him so much of his sister when she was angry. "Athena?"

"Fine. For tonight." She looked up at him, intently. "And what did you mean about Dad?"

"Shit. I shouldn't have said anything."

She gave him a pointed look over the tops of her glasses, looking up at him. "Nice try, Hagrid. Come on, out with it."

Once again Ron put his arm around Athena's shoulder and guided her back towards the main ballroom. "Ok, let's go find your dad and I'll fill you in before you say anything." As they made their way through the reception Ron, thanks to his height, didn't take long to spot them above most of the people. Steering Athena towards the far wall he moved towards the edge of the tables and then stopped. "Ok, there, by the buffet. See 'em?"

Athena looked and saw her father but it wasn't the woman he introduced her to earlier. It felt very odd to see her father with the woman with the tattoos, but now she was confused. "I just see Dad and Daphne."

"Uh-huh, right. Now come on, Slytherin. You have to notice it. I mean, I guess I didn't at first but it's obvious to me now. See, she just put something on his plate. Ok, now they're headed someplace to sit, just watch, ok? For me? Watch and then tell me what you saw."

Athena adjusted her glasses and watched as her father and Daphne sat down and then began talking. Her dad put his hand on Daphne's back and whispered something in her ear, which made her laugh and cover her face. She swatted him lightly and they began to eat. He took drink of his wine, shook his head and slid the glass over to Daphne who sniffed it, took a sip and then pushed her wineglass over to his plate. Suddenly it all snapped into place. She turned up to Ron and he nodded.

"They've been a couple for years and we didn't realise it. Makes me feel thick, but I'm used to it. What are you thinking?"

"I...I don't know." Athena shrugged. "I guess I'm kind of glad. I thought she'd never go out with him because, well, she's brilliant. Dad's just...boring."

Ron's laugh started low but soon became loud enough a couple tables nearbly turned to stare at him. "Harry's boring...Godric, you have no idea how happy that's gonna make him." He felt an arm go around his waist and looked to see his sister had done the same thing to her daughter.

"What's so interesting?" Ginny hugged her daughter. "Are you ok, sweetie?"

"I'm fine, Mum. But Dad..."

"What about your father? Where's his date?" Ginny felt Ron tapping her on the shoulder. She looked up, followed his gesture, and saw them. "Oh. I'm sorry, Athena, all that work and..."

"No, Mum." Athena shook her head. "I never figured it out."

"I'll let you two talk." Ron winked at his sister and headed towards the bar. This time, after receiving prompt service, he headed back towards his wife. After a moment, thought, he thought about it again and returned to the bar. The bloke behind the bar didn't want to do it, said it was 'against procedure' but Ron sighed and pulled three Galleons out of his pocket. It was more than he wanted, but he knew it would be worth it.

The bottle of champagne in hand he went over to Harry's table, leaned between the two of them and sat it on down in front of them. "Here you go, least I could do."

"Um, thanks?" Harry turned to Ron.

"It's ok, I think Thena's ok with it. Get this, Harry, she said she could understand why'd you want to be with Daphne 'cause 'she's brilliant' and all..." He paused and looked over to Daphne's surprised face. "I use Arithmancy at the shop, wished I'd taken it, if you're teaching it I reckon she's right. Pretty brilliant and all." He turned back to Harry, his face in a wide grin. "But get this, she can't figure out why Daphne's with you cause you're 'boring.' You, Harry, boring. Hilarious." He patted Harry on the shoulder. "Glad for you two. Don't think it's a bad bottle of champagne but it's what they had. Enjoy."

Daphne and Harry watched Ron walk away in silence. Eventually they turned to each other. Harry cleared his throat. "Um, apparently Ron thinks..."

"I quite gathered what Ron thinks." Daphne blinked several times. "I cannot believe he does Arithmancy."

"The hell with Arithmancy." Harry turned to her. "Now what?"

"There is a bottle of champagne."

"Dammit, Daphne, I'm being serious." He looked at her, his to tapping under the table. "You'd never consider it, would you? I mean..."

"Oh, I've considered it before." Her eyebrow raised. "Have you?"

"Of course I have, but..." He sat back in his chair. "This is awkward."

"Exceedingly."

Harry sat there, taking her in. She looked wonderful as always, this time in a silvery green dress, and he had to admit that he'd often thought about her as more than a colleague. For a moment he flashed back to Greenhouse Three and his conversation with Neville, thinking back on what he wanted. Someone he could be with that understood him, that knew that Athena came first, that thought of him as more than just his famous name, that understood his life was accustomed to the rhythms of Hogwarts...someone like Daphne. He was blind. How had he not seen it?

"Harry?" She leaned forward and put her hand on his arm. "Harry?"

He stood up quickly, and in the action he saw her face, how the emotion flickered over it until it returned to what he thought of as her Hogwarts face, the one she showed the students. The one he knew hid everything. He smiled and held out his hand. "Dance with me?"

As she took his hand and stood Harry saw Daphne's expression soften, reminding him of the other times he'd seen it. Seen it but had never understood.

 _ **A/N: Not quite the end, but this has been sitting around as is for a while with just a little bit to edit. Read it again last night and realized this is a good spot to end the chapter, so here you go.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.**_


	5. Post-Season

**Playing Defense**

 **Chapter 5: Post-Season**

Early July, 2017

The leaving party was Ginny's idea. Harry knew that Athena wouldn't outwardly want the party, and would grumble about it, but in the run up to the date she had asked enough questions and had made enough of her preferences known that he knew she actually liked it. They'd talked about it enough, but never in the official 'let's sit and have a chat' way. It was more along the lines of a quick comment while Harry was getting ready for work, a note sent to him at his office, those kinds of things. The big hint was when she showed up at Hogwarts when he was finishing up his grades.

He and Daphne were sitting along with Neville in the Staff Room, the three of them at different tables, stacks of parchment alongside them in distinct piles. In the background a wizarding wireless was playing. It was Neville's turn to select the music and he'd chosen his usual station, the swing music station, making him wag his eyebrows at Daphne. Also, as usual, she gave him a smirk, rolled her eyes and continued working.

As the music filled the room, along with sunlight, all three paused when a knock on the door interrupted their grading. Before anyone could say a word, though, Athena came in with a nervous wave and sat down next to her father.

"Um, Dad? I need to talk to you."

Harry sat down his quill. "Ok, what can Gringotts do for you today?"

"Merlin. Dad. Please." Athena sighed at the old Dad-ism and looked over quickly at Daphne, who was continuing her grading, but then caught Neville's eye. "Hi Professor."

Neville nodded. "Hello, Athena. You know..."

"Yeah, I know. Besides you don't grade my NEWT exams." She seemed flustered, then stopped, lowered her chin and concentrated. After a deep breath she turned back to her father. "Dad...you invited everyone, didn't you?"

Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Daphne give him an 'I told you so' tilt of the head and had to stifle the urge to laugh. "No, Ducky, not everyone. Your Gran wants to have a thing for you out at the Burrow, Ginny sent me an owl on that, this is just a small thing at the house. Look at it this way, the Burrow will be your thing, this is more for me. That I can say 'look, she's not in Azkaban, she finished Hogwarts, I did ok as a dad.' That's it."

Athena sat almost still for a moment, only the slight bounce of one of her legs betrayed any movement. "Ok. That's fine. But I'm not going to be there all night, I'm going out with my roommates. One last time before we all go everywhere."

"Fair enough." Harry smiled. "Kreacher will be very happy to hear that."

Once his daughter had said her goodbyes and made it out of the room he turned to Daphne. "You were right. Big thing would have been a bad idea."

"Obviously." Daphne didn't look up fully, but her glance caught his eye. And Longbottom smirking enough that she contemplated sending a small jinx his way just on principle, but there were still too many exams to grade.

-ooo-

Grimmauld Place was lit up both inside and outside, as several strings of fairy lights criss-crossed the garden. Music played in the background throughout, loud enough that it gave the background some texture but not so much that anyone had to really raise their voice. It simply wasn't that type of a party. The newness of the changes hadn't really sunk in yet; Athena and some of her friends were out in the garden while Harry and his friends and colleagues were dispersed throughout the house.

Harry stood next to the improvised bar, mixing a drink, watching as Daphne stood two rooms away in conversation with her sister. As that conversation could go on for Helga knows how long he headed off towards Ron, completely missing the fact that Ginny had arrived.

Saying hellos to a few friends took a surprising amount of time, so much so that when Ginny began her move past a couple she hadn't met before, Daphne was alone. Seizing her opportunity, with a quick nod in affirmation she made her way over, unable to notice that while Daphne did see her approach there wasn't any nervousness on the professor's face.

"I wasn't aware you'd be able to make it. Thank you, I'm sure Athena will appreciate her mother's attendance."

"Pffft." Ginny half-snorted. "She won't care, not tonight. It's good you're doing this." Quickly following, so Daphne wouldn't misunderstand, she continued. "For Harry. Good for him. We've talked, the two of us. Me an' Harry, that is...well, not like _we_ haven't talked. Ok, not really..."

Suppressing a smile Daphne nodded. "You must have been a treasure in class." Now the smile came, there was no holding back once she'd seen Ginny's eyes sort-of roll in slight embarrassment. "It's fine, really. Honestly. It is. He does deserve a celebration, I offered to assist more but..."

"Oh Merlin, I know _exactly_ what you mean." Ginny nodded emphatically and began gesturing as if she'd taken off her glasses and was waving them in a specific direction. "Have to have things just right..."

This time it was Daphne's turn to laugh, except it came out in a most unexpected _snerk_ , complete with an involuntary move forward of her shoulders, causing her to almost spill her drink. "The glasses bit..."

"Athena loves to mimic that and you know how much he loves to be imitated. Teddy does a wonderful Harry, especially if he's changed his...probably shouldn't have brought up Ted, should I?" Ginny paused. "Has she said much to you? She's hinted at a few things, but every time I try to talk to her about it she just says Ted's a 'useless piece of shite who can't stick with a decision' or ignores me altogether."

"No. Not since New Year's. She was rather focused on the topic then, as it had just happened, but not since." Tilting her head slightly Daphne looked past Ginny's shoulder. "It appears our conversation is making some nervous."

Ginny looked over he shoulder to see Hermione and Luna giving them an appraising look. "Oh for fuck's sake, we're talking about Athena...like we can't get along. You know, I get asked about you after matches." She waved at Hermione and Luna to join them and turned back to Daphne. "And like I tell them, Harry's happy, Athena likes you and I'm married to Oliver. What do they expect, hexes, poison and wizard's duels and..."

"Please don't make me arrest anyone. I've had too many of these for it to be legal." Hermione held up a cocktail glass that only held ice and a small remnant of liquid. "And I'm not dressed for it. Do you know how long it's been since Ron and I have been out? Ages. Ages." She tilted her head towards Ginny. "Your wedding."

"Why is it that we only see each other at parties and weddings?" Ginny sighed. "We should set something up. A lunch thing. Something other than events that require uncomfortable shoes."

"Daphne and Harry see each other all the time at work." Luna took a sip of her drink. "Maybe that's why it took a wedding for them to realize things."

As everyone turned to her Daphne sighed. Luna was an acquired taste, after all. Thankfully with her creature hunting she didn't visit that often. For Daphne it always took her a good two hours and a headache potion to recover from an extended visit, but she was one of Harry's dearest friends, not to mention that Athena loved her so. For Harry some of Luna's announcements seemed to simply cut through to the heart of the matter but she'd roomed with Tracey Davis; Tracey was blunt beyond belief and said that Luna just pretended to be odd so she didn't have to be polite. Regardless, there was some truth in the statement. Turning to Hermione she smiled slyly. "To be quite honest, it was all your husband's doing. I had no idea he was so romantic."

"Ron? Romantic?" Ginny busted out laughing, chuckling harder when she saw Hermione's face. "Right. I bet loverboy an' Harry are planning a romantic getaway right now."

-ooo-

"Wait, how much?" Ron looked at him oddly. "An original Nimbus 500. Unmodified. Unrestored. Nimbus 500. At that price you could buy it, stick it in a shed for a couple of months do fuck all and then double your price. And probably double that."

"I know." Harry shook his head in an exasperated fashion and leaned against the windowsill. "But I don't need it. Still, at that price it makes me wonder what's wrong with it."

"Who cares? It's a frikken _Nimbus five-zero-zero._ Is it slower than the new ones? Absolutely. I can probably hop to Hogwarts faster than that thing can fly. Does anything fly like one of those? Personally I have no idea. All I know is...seriously, if you don't buy the thing I might. How many of those did they make? 500. And that was ages ago. There can't be many left that aren't in a museum. Or private collections. Really, it's all original?"

Raising an eyebrow, then his drink, Harry pondered things. He was pretty sure he was going to skip out on buying the Nimbus, after all he didn't really need it, but Ron's reaction was causing a bit of reflection. It also gave him a quick moment to take everything in, all the people, all the little pockets of conversation. It was then that he saw Daphne in conversation with Hermione and Luna. That made him smirk, thinking how Luna had made Daphne form the most hilarious expressions, but the smirk slowly faded as Luna moved slightly and he saw Ginny laugh, pull a face and then said something to Daphne.

"Um, Ron? Let's go find Neville."

"Are you telling him about the Nimbus? Because if you're not going to buy it I am. Neville's crap on a broom anyway, be completely wasted..."

"Not about the broom. Come on."

Ron gave him an odd look but decided to follow. They found Neville in the library with Hannah. When Hannah saw the look on Harry's face she tapped Neville on the arm, whispered something to him and left the room, giving Ron an odd look on the way out. Ron reciprocated, the 'I have no clue' expression of befuddlement.

Harry began pacing. "I'm not sure about this."

Across the room Ron and Neville looked at each other, at Harry, then shared a look and reacted non-verbally. Neville leaned against the windowsill and began softly rubbing his temple while Ron was more emphatic, letting his shoulders slump, gazing upward and rolling his eyes. After seeing Neville wave off his attempt at rock-paper-scissors Ron nodded, straightened his shoulders and picked out another bottle of beer from the small cooler on top of the side table.

"Here." After Harry took the beer Ron looked hopefully over to Neville, but seeing Neville's 'get on with it' look made him take a drink and look at his best mate. "What do you mean you're 'not sure' about it? Athena's gonna be fine. But it isn't Athena, is it? Daphne, right? Her an' you?"

"No. Yes. I mean..." Harry took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and put his glasses back on quickly, then started walking around the room. "It's not Athena, I know she'll be fine even though she's been entirely too tight-lipped about her plans..."

Neville motioned to Ron to be quiet as he saw Ron mouth 'Slytherin,' then watched as Harry continued to slowly pace around the Grimmauld library room.

"But it's kind of a big step, her moving in here. Will she..."

"Oh for fuck's sake." Neville stood there, hands gesturing in frustration. "I mean...for fuck's sake."

Harry stopped almost mid-step and looked over at Neville. Ron shared the same surprised expression, although Ron looked as if he wanted to bust out laughing. "Nev?"

"Stop bloody over-thinking this. Stop it. Just...stop. At least this time you can't walk into anything venomous while we having this conversation. I can tell you two work. Ron can tell you two work. If Ron can tell..."

"Hey!" Ron flipped Neville a two-fingered salute.

Ignoring the interjection he continued. "Remember when you were out in the greenhouse after you'd been chucked? All those things you said you wanted?" Neville pointedly looked at Harry, as if saying 'think about it, you great idiot.'

After some hem-hawing around Harry eventually nodded. "Ok, right, but then there's the living with someone thing. I haven't really lived with anyone I didn't help create since..."

"Oh. Oh, don't worry about that." Ron laughed. "We're all great idiots there. You'll figure it out. That's the little stuff, things like who sorts the laundry, who sorts the laundry _correctly_ , who's the last one in bed, who cooks breakfast, who does the dishes, who does the dishes _correctly_...shut up, Nev. That's part of it. Figuring it out. The difference is that you don't mind being corrected because you know it makes the other person happy. And it makes you happy making them happy." He took a drink of beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Listen, if she's willing to put up with all the 'oh Merlin it's Harry Potter can I have your autograph' shite, can handle your moody, speccy git self for all that time you two teach up at Hogwarts...what makes you think it'll be that different? Besides the sex part, which really does makes me question her taste just a bit."

"He and Ginny have Athena." Neville laughed.

After rolling his eyes and taking a drink, Ron continued. "Well, yeah, 'Thena didn't just show up like the myths...but...anyway, you like her. She likes you, somehow. You've known each other for ages, liked each other for ages, finally got your head out of your arse and I...I just don't see the fucking problem? If it works? Great. If it doesn't? Well, she is head of Slytherin...ok, you're fucked there, mate. Don't be stupid." Seeing both men give him a 'come on, really?' look Ron barreled ahead. "I know, it's not funny anymore, old habits. Nah. Always funny. But here's the deal, and if either of you two gits say a word I'll empty the Experimental drawer at the shop on you, and that won't be pleasant, trust me...but who do you want to spend the rest of your time with? And why? If you want to go to a Quidditch match and she doesn't mind, or if she wants to go to some Arithmancy thing in Indiana-nana or whatever it's called, you go and don't mind..."

"It's just Indiana." Neville kept a serious face, as if he was discussing something with the Wizengamot. Or worse, first year parents after grades came out. "Unless their new speciality is growing bananas. Difficult in that climate, would be some impressive..."

"Fine." Ron took a large drink of beer and took a seat in a chair by the fireplace. "Be that way, Longbottom. I'm imparting important life knowledge here and you're being a wanker about bananas." He turned to Harry. "You get it, right?" Putting a hand on Harry's shoulder he looked him dead in the eyes. "You've done a brilliant job with Athena. You an' Ginny. Both of you, but let's be honest here, it's mostly been you. She's a good kid. Time to think about more than being Dad."

"Ron?" Neville gave him an odd, appraising look.

"I have my moments." He paused, looking over Harry's shoulder. "Look what the kneazle dragged in. Teddy's here."

"I didn't think he'd come." Harry took a drink. "How good are your _reparos_? Probably gonna need a few."

"Expert." Ron lightly slapped his hand on Harry's shoulder. "It's a miracle the shop's still standing. C'mon. You too, Nev."

-ooo-

Even though he wasn't that old, not really compared to some, as he sat in a chair by the fireplace Harry felt as if the party had somehow doubled the aging process and had left him twice his age. People had finally starting drifting away, commenting as they left about their congratulations; all for successfully having Athena finish Hogwarts, but some adding to their words with some variation of the 'so glad you found someone, about time' theme. To those he smiled, thanked them and felt slightly embarrassed, but for the most part it made him laugh ever-so-briefly, nod and agree. That process had started a little before midnight and stretched out until finally, finally, he sat with mostly-empty wineglass, spectacles perched upon his head and with the only people he expected to be with him at half-two in the morning.

"Here." Ron poured a bit more into Harry's glass, topped off Daphne's and then his wife's. With the remaining portion in the bottle he sat down on the sofa with his wife, across from the others. "Doubt it'd last, probably taste like something you clean cauldrons with if we didn't finish it."

"Undoubtedly." Daphne smirked at him. "The only proper thing to be done."

Harry and Hermione caught each other's eyes, Harry chuckling enough to make his chest move but without much sound as Hermione rolled her eyes. After a sip he sat back in the chair, kicking off his shoes and sighed deeply. "That went better than expected."

"The party or the Thena an' Ted talk?" Ron lifted his arm as Hermione put her back against him, stretching out her feet on the sofa. "Or when she told you about her job?" He felt Hermione slightly stiffen her shoulders, glanced down at her and then muttered 'fuck.'

"Her job?" Harry lifted his head from the back of the chair. "She got a job? She hasn't said a word to me. Daphne?"

"No." She crossed her ankles and gestured minutely with her wineglass. "It appears that..."

"Well it's your fault, really." Ron gave Daphne a look and took a swig from the wine bottle. "Asked you for the Arithmancy results, right? You could've told us to sod off."

With Hermione prodding him Ron related the story; as he had informed Daphne ages ago, he regretted not taking Arithmancy at Hogwarts as he used it all the time at the shop. After talking with George they'd decided to bring on someone to concentrate on Arithmancy but wanted someone new, so they wouldn't have what George called all those 'pesky adhering to workplace rules habits' or something like that. Basically, someone who knew Arithmancy that they could also train to 'think like a Weasley.' Ron had used the letterhead from the shell company he and George used when they wanted to conduct business and not have it known that it was them, contacting Daphne inquiring about the top Arithmancy students in the year. The top three students had already accepted positions, but the fourth was available. They'd put together a small practical knowledge test for Arithmancy, along with areas that they thought were important for the shop and sent it to Athena. She'd scored wonderfully so an interview was scheduled.

"George was beside himself, couldn't wait." Ron's enthusiasm for the story was growing, as Harry seemed in shock and Daphne was about to burst. "Well, we couldn't have the interview at the shop like usual, because, you know, so we rented out a room at one of the Muggle office parks and gave her the details, said to dress Muggle, all that. Soon as she opened the door George walked over, shook her hand and said 'Congrats, you're hired!' Said she could obviously think like a Weasley because she's half-Weasley as it is, and for some reason her being Slytherin was even better for him." He shrugged. "It's George. Merlin knows."

Harry sighed deeply. He'd been so worried about what was next for his daughter, but working at the Weasley shop was such a relief. "So will it be the Diagon Alley shop or the Hogsmeade branch? If she's working at Hogsmeade..."

"Oh. Right." Ron looked over to Hermione. "Um, wine's gone...be right back."

She lifted up and peeked over the sofa back. "Coward." Turning back to Harry she took a deep breath. "Not one of the original shops, sorry. The opening's for the Texas shop."

"Texas?" Harry looked over to Daphne. "Texas?"

"You always knew this would be a possibility, Harry. That she wouldn't stay close to home."

"I know, but..." He sighed.

Daphne reached over and put her hand on his arm. "She'll be fine. She's a smart girl." After a pause she continued. "She spoke to me about Ted."

"Really?"

"Don't get your hopes up, dear. I'm afraid that she was rather happy that she had discovered why Kreacher was so upset with him."

"This oughta be good." Ron settled back into the sofa. "So she's working for the shop, Texas branch. That's been said, right? Good, ok, what the hell was Kreacher's problem?"

"Still a coward." Hermione eased back into him.

"Pick your battles." He smirked back at her. "So?"

Daphne enjoyed spinning the tale of two strong personalities irritated at the other very different reasons. Ted held a grudge against Kreacher for telling Harry that he'd taken Harry's Firebolt F1 out for a broom ride one summer night to go see Victoire. He'd known that Harry would never have let him borrow the ultra-rare broom so he hadn't bothered to ask, so when he returned back to Grimmauld to find both Harry and Kreacher waiting for him he knew he was in trouble. That was the reason Ted held a grudge, but it was only in conversation with Athena, when Ted was going through all the stupid things he's done (like break up with her) that he recounted using a permanent marker and drawing a mustache and angry eyebrows on the portrait of Walburga Black, along with various cartoon pigs and other animals around her feet. After Ted had called it one of the stupidest things he'd done Kreacher had appeared not long afterwards, bringing Athena _and_ Ted a drink. Athena had related to Daphne how she was glad those two had finally made up, but that she wasn't sure about Ted. They agreed to meet for Quidditch when the Sasquatches visited the Oklahoma Owlbats, the closest team to the Texas Weasley shop, but that was it.

"Well, I'm glad that's sorted, but some of us have to work tomorrow." Hermione slowly stood up, handing Ron her glass.

"Yeah, at four in the afternoon." Ron smirked as he stood. "Aurors, live in their own world, they do."

"Hush." She turned to Harry and Daphne, who had risen as well. "So now it's just the two of you. For a while, Athena's still here." She raised an eyebrow. "With all of her planning to get to this point, you'd better watch out or before you know it there will be secret plans to get you two married."

"Oh no. We're good." Harry looked over to Daphne. "No big thing. Matter of fact, Tuesday work?"

"Hmmm..." Daphne pulled her hair back over her shoulders and feigned being in deep contemplation. "Perhaps. I do believe everyone else will be occupied so it should work. Please tell me that..."

"Ministry. Ted doesn't leave until Wednesday. Minimum of fuss, you don't even..."

"Thank Merlin, for that at least. Very well. Tuesday, then. We'll tell Athena tomorrow." She glanced at her watch and raised her eyebrows. "Rather, later today. I had no idea of the time."

"Huh?" Ron looked confused. "I didn't have that much wine. What are you on about?"

"Congratulations. I'll just explain to him on the way home." Hermione hugged Harry and then, after a small hesitation, hugged Daphne. Taking Ron's hand she began the preparations for Floo travel.

"Oh!" Ron turned back from the Floo and pointed at Harry. "Seriously, if you're not gonna buy that broom, tell me, ok?"

-ooo-

On a Tuesday afternoon in a small, out of the way Ministry office Harry and Daphne were married. Their magical witnesses were Athena and Ted, appropriately enough. For a while afterwards, at the restaurant to celebrate, Harry thought that it would all go swimmingly but then Ted mentioned something about Seattle and that made things come back into focus; Athena would be leaving at the beginning of August.

When September rolled around, and the Hogwarts welcoming feast was in session, there were many people who congratulated Professor Potter and the new Professor Potter. Professor Longbottom, however, still liked to tease the two of them that they cost him a good bit of Galleons.

The new Potters settled into a rhythm of teaching, teasing each other as always, and a very happy married life. Despite George Weasley's comments the two decided that they were quite happy having Athena as an only child and traveled during the summers, sometimes to America, sometimes to other locations.

Athena found working at the Texas branch of the Weasley joke empire quite rewarding, challenging and irritating simultaneously; she developed a close group of friends, some from work, some from other areas and even dated a wizard from New Mexico on and off for a year or so. Ted's experience with the Seattle Sasquatches went through a few rough patches, mostly due to coaching and other regime changes, but his experience in the front office at almost the beginning of the team's existence made him in demand from other Quidditch teams. A stint in Australia was followed by Bolivia, ultimately ending up with the Tutshill Tornadoes again after the team changed ownership. Athena and Ted did end up married, years and one odd owl tattoo later, but that is a different story.

As for Harry and Daphne? Even Ginny called them 'revoltingly well-matched.' Oliver laughed and, as always, said it was Athena's fault.

 _ **A/N: So there's the end. As for Athena and Ted? That story might come later, but it's time to wrap this one up.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.**_


End file.
